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Book..jL3.>4jr_. 



Author 



Title 



Imprint. 



16—47378-1 OPO 



EPITOME 



OF SOME OF THE 



^'^^ 



CHIEF EVENTS AND TRANSACTIONS 



IN THE 

LIFE OF JOSEPH LANCASTER, 

CONTAINING AN 

ACCOUMT OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

OF THE 

LANCASTERIAN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION ; 

AND 

THE AUTHORS FUTURE PROSPECTS OF USEFULNESS TO 
MANKIND ; 

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, 

AND PUBLISHED TO PROMOTE THE EDUCATION OF HIS 
FAMILY. 



Thy mercy o'er my life has flowed, 
That mercy I adore ; 
I thank thee for thy mercies past, 
And humbly hope for more. 



NEW-HAVEN, 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY BALDWIN & PECK. 

Sold also in New-York by Carvill & Co. Broadway ; Francis, Broadway ; 

and C. J. Gayler, 102, Water-street. 

1833. 






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Entered according to Act of Congress, in 1833, by JOSEPH LANCASTER, 
as the property of John Alfred Lancaster Robinson, a native of Philadel- 
phia, in the Clerk's Office for the District of Connecticut. 



LoTEi.L Cottage, New-Haven, Conn 
14th of 11th month, 1833 

TO THE PUBLIC. 

Friends : 

This brief Epitome of the outlines of the remarkable events 
of my life, b now published, not as a perfect or full detail, but as 
adequate to its intended purpose, to promote the proposal of a sub- 
scription for a publication, containing further improvements in Edu- 
cation ; — a publication which may contribute to the present support 
of my family, while the proceeds of this tract will aid in the educa- 
tion of my own beloved children ; a duty which, as T am now 
advancing in life, I wish fully to perform while it is yet day. 

One motive for making this epitome no larger is, that I am obli- 
ged to seek aid for my family as early as possible, and cannot, 
therefore, delay the work for leisure and augmentation. IMany are 
the facts omitted ; but a number which were utterly unknown be- 
fore, are now communicated to the public for the first time, in a 
regular though not finished series. 

Another reason for making this publication so brief, is the un- 
willingness common to any burnt child, to put his fingers needlessly 
in the fire a second time ; — an unwillingness arising from having 
deeply suffered by many attempts to do good, or speculate beyond 
actual means, and a reluctance to sell a copy-right which may ul- 
timately benefit my own children ; as the manuscript contains mat- 
ter enough to interest a world, and relates to many characters 
and transactions of the age, for above the fourth part of this cen- 
tury, all honorable, and all connected with the progress of educa- 
tion. 

Human life is often a specimen of mixture and imperfection ; 

and for my errors, whatever they are, I make neither excuses, pal- 
liations, or defence. I say, earth to earth, dust to dust, over them, 
with all my heart. Of my usefulness, I cast down all my glory at 
the feet of Him who called me into being by his power, endowed 
me with talents, and redeemed me by his blood. 

Of what has man to glory ? Of what has man to boast ? 



PRKFACE. 



Were my usefulness multiplied by millions, still I should be an 
unit among the thousand millions of immortal beings who in succes- 
sion enter on their career of probation in this world, ultimately to 
join the general assembly of all creation, in the eternity of being. 
I have heard of humility as by tradition ; I have been taught in 
the furnace of affliction the true value of it, so far, that I can look 
over this epitome of my life, which I now give to the world for the 
good of my own children, and say, in resignation to my bountiful 

Creator, — 

In each event of life, 
How clear thy ruling hand I see ! 
Each blessing still more dear, 
Because conferred by Thee. 

Great causes have sprang up from small beginnings. The Giver 
of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, has been pleased, 
whilst he mercifully '' tempered the wind to the shorn lamb," to 
remember one who has loved the little ones of his universal flock 
and family, and at times to bless with serenity and peace, a mind 
often afflicted, and so circumstanced as to be " tossed with tem- 
pests, and not comforted," and to give, in the hours of gloominess 
and sorrow, the Redeemer's peace, — 

The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy, 
True virtue's prize. 

'' Feeling has uo fellow." It is superior to all mathematical de- 
monstration ; for pain of body or mind regulates not itself by prob- 
lems or diagrams, nor does joy or consolation form itself out of 
cubes, squares or triangles. Those who feel their Redeemer speak 
peace, and calm the tempest of the soul, may justly believe and 
praise his name, who still speaks as never man spake. It is an 
healing gift, — heaven's balm for all sorrow, — heavenly medicine 
for all wounds. If I do not noiv publicly praise the name of Him 
who sitteth on the throne, and the Lamb, the httle children who 
sang Hallelujah to the Prince of Life, in the temple of Jerusalem, 
might justly arise and say, that I am guilty of ingratitude, — high 
treason of the human heart against the Majesty of Heaven. Such, 
I hope, will never be the choice of a sincere friend of the youth 

of all nations. 

JOSEPH LANCASTER. 



EPITOME, &c. 



Peculiarities attending the commencement of his experiments. 

Joseph Lancaster, the son of an industrious man, with a large 
family, was born in the vicinity of London, in the close of the year 1778 
The circumstances of his friends were decent and comfortable, but still 
not so far above the poor as to open the prospects of ambition, or fan 
the spark of human pride into an early or premature flame. He was 
born in that class of society which was most favorable of all others to 
his future usefulness. 

His parental home was in a neighborhood in which resided many poor 
families, who once had seen the sunshine of brighter days, and who had 
become the victims of loss and suffering, which marred their happier 
prospects and the education of their children together. That is to say, 
Joseph Lancaster was born and reared, as if by a predisposition of Pro- 
vidence, in a spot which seemed as one of the best that could have been 
selected on earth, in which to commence an experiment calculated to 
promote the education of millions. Corruption and poverty there abode 
together, as if twin children of the same family. The Edinburgh Re- 
view of ] 806 compared in substance the location — the planting of this 
first school, this tree of knowledge in the garden of corruption, — to " a 
drop of healing oil" seated in the midst of a miserable wound, difTusing 
health and dispelling inflammation around it. 

The destination which his pious Calvinistic friends gave him was col- 
lege education for the ministry- But though young, he was deeply 
thoughtful, and after considering things well, preferred the principles 
advocated by Fox, Penn, and Barclay, to all others. He weighed 
these things for years, but when once decided, he made no hesitation 
of sacrificing his prospects in life to the free exercise of his conscience. 
Thus he was left, at 18 years of age, without a settled pursuit or pro- 
fession. His father's mechanical business was irksome to him ; and his 
parents, disappointed in the desire of their heart, felt reluctant to solicit 
further patronage, or enter into any new plans : but his father used to 
say, " There is something behind the cloud" on his prospects. In 1798, 
he obtained from his father the use of a room, in w^hich he might keep 
a cheap school for the poor of the neighborhood. This proposal met 
his kind approbation, and that of the neighbors on every hand. The 
price was so low as to be a great relief to those who had seen better 
days and felt sorrowful changes. By assiduity and kindness, he gained 
the hearts of his pupils, and the school increased, so as repeatedly to 
occasion its removal to more capacious buildings. 

As many of the parents of his pupils were still under the burthen of 
distress, he soon found that arrears of pay accumulated. He visited 
these families at their own houses, and generally told the parents to send 



6 

their suns as usual, — that they would be called upon, as others, for 
weekly pay. He directed them to instruct their children, when called, 
to refer to their parents ; and that as to J. L's claims, if they could pay, 
they might, but if not, he would neither ask nor trouble them on the 
subject. This proceeding soon increased his free scholars, and lessened 
his income ; but the pupils who were taught free, knew it not. His 
prudent parents thought him in error, but set it down to a pure motive. 
Its only effect was a good one ; for, while the school produced no more 
than enough for his subsistence and expenses, he was unable to pay an 
assistant, with the increasing number of pupils. This compelled him to 
make use of the services of his pupils, to teach each other, as monitors ; 
and finally, this practice, the sheer offspring of necessity, ended in the 
demonstration and definition of the power of one master to teach hun- 
dreds, by means of juvenile and economical auxiliaries. 

Experience soon taught him that he could not commonly nor entirely 
depend upon such youth in general, for discretion, wisdom, or judgment ; 
that they needed judicious training, as well as skilful selection ; that they 
must walk in a precise line, and be accustomed to that alone. This 
led him to one invention after another, till he had perfected every part, 
and prescribed every mode of action ; so that the system could be in- 
stead of wisdom, judgment and discretion, arising only from experience, 
and which could not be possessed by those who had not lived long in the 
world to make such attainment. It is not intended here to detail the 
system ; but the facts stated have commanded approbation almost uni- 
versally. 

The manner, however, in which he gained the hearts of his pupils, 
had something in it so peculiar, that it ceases to be a subject of admira- 
tion, that, with such hold as he had on the minds of his pupils and mon- 
itors, they should have been so much like plastic clay to mold and form 
their habits at his pleasure, and perform their duties at the glance of his 
eye and the motion of his finger. 

On the first day or Sunday evenings, he had usually forty to sixty to 
tea with him. The pupils brought their own bread and butter, and he 
gave them tea and sugar. Tea was manufactured by wholesale quan- 
tities, and the elder served the younger. The entire leaders of the 
school became one family ; and the sweetness of their smiles, and gen- 
tleness of their whispering conversation, gave indication of their happi- 
ness. The evening closed with seriously reading the sacred pages, and 
neither teacher nor pupils separated without the heartfelt blessing which 
ever attends well-spent hours. 

The usual vacation days, or half-holidays, were often spent in making 
excursions to villages in the neighborhood of London, with large par- 
ties of pupils. These were days of pleasure and high enjoyment, usually 
the reward of merit or general improvement. Each monitor became 
captain of his class, headed his own company, and accustomed them to 
the same order in passing the streets as they always exhibited in school. 
When in the fields or their appointed play-grounds, all was liberty and 
freedom of sportiveness. Many a race was run, many a shout of joy 
sent its echoes round the horizon ; nor was the sport of trap-ball, nor 
scramble royal for apples, soon forgotten. 



In 1799 — 1800, dreadful scarcity existed in London. The price of 
bread operated on the needy so as to make the pressure on many fam- 
ilies equal to famine. At that time numbers of J. L's. pupils were sinking 
under want of food, or absent from school for want of clothing, — clo- 
thing of the elder pupils, often sold or pledged by the heart-broken pa- 
rents, to buy bread for their younger infants. J. Lancaster had now been 
near six years among the friends, and was respected in his unosten- 
tatious line of movement. He had come among them from principle, 
and having renounced all gain, had no thought of seeking influence ; yet 
many cases of distress for which he obtained relief, convinced him that 
he was among a benevolent people. While his heart ached at the mis- 
ery which oppressed his little flock, he could not but appeal to the op- 
ulent and kind-hearted among his fellow professors, for assistance. The 
Friends of London, highly to their honor, generously cheered his ap- 
plications, — all they did was done with tender feeling and christian kind- 
nesss, — so that in going from housf, to house, making collections, grat- 
itude and affection, and often prayer for divine as w-ell as human bless- 
ings, spontaneously arose in his mind, for persons who enabled him often 
to chase away the widow's or the orphan's sorrows. In fact, money 
enough was raised to feed 60 to 80 at a time, with good plain dinners 
of soup, rice, and millet puddings, legs of beef, potatoes, etc. This was 
arduous work, but " the labor of virtue bringeth forth pleasure." Thus 
the bond of respect between parent and teacher was increased. The 
affection between teacher and pupil was cemented. An extensive con- 
nection was formed between Joseph Lancaster and his friends, on the 
most benevolent grounds. They honored him, — beloved them. Good 
was done, and the poor gained at first, and mankind ultimately, by this 
early step for public usefulness. 

One or two orphans resided with J. L. at that time, kn old Welch- 
woman was his housekeeper, — his living simple, — his income and ex- 
penses were equal, — any surplus went at once to the school for rewards, 
or to the poor and needy for aid. He had not been brought up for the 
counting-house, and he took no thought for the morrow. He was al- 
ways content if at the end of the week he had enough to balance ac- 
counts. He neither thought, sought, or cared for gain. 

Extension of his school and improvement of his plans. 
■ The following year bore heavier than usual on the poor parents of his 
pupils, because of the sufferings of the preceding period, which had 
broken the spirits of many a worthy father and mother down to the 
ground. The food given, the clothing bestowed by subscription, were 
only mitigations, and sufFeiing continued so as to affect the pay of the 
pupils very materially. 

Some Friends of London, who paid, of their own choice, the price 
for the education of pupils, agreed, on Joseph Lancaster's request, to 
place that pay in the form uf an annual subscription. The conditions 
were, that out of every guinea subscribed, fifteen shillings should be the 
price of twelve months education, three shillings should be applied to 
rewards, and three to school expenses, for books, &c. In addition to 
the free scholars on his own account, J. L. was soon enabled to admit 80 
others free, on account of his friends. 



On this increase of his pay, he was enabled to devote his first year's in- 
come, 80 pounds, towards the building of a new school room. 

In regard to rewards, he resorted to a wholesale toy-shop, and procu- 
red, at a small price, several thousand of " those little things," which, 
" let school-taught pride dissemble all it can," are always " great to 
little man," — and the school room being speedily arranged with kites, 
and hoops, and bats, and balls, and all the playful instruments of healthy 
happiness, became a centre of attraction to the entire neighborhood, and 
the pupils poured in by scores, and soon filled the school to overflowing. 
The facility of books, slates, and means of instruction, which the 
subscription supplied, enabled J. L. to improve his pupils, as well as 
reward them highly. 

This extension of his means corresponded with the increase of his 
pupils, — and he was obliged to apply to his friends and the public, for 
assistance to extend his buildings. — ^The funds were chiefly furnished 
by members of the society of friends, and it is only impartial justice to 
state, that they were the instruments, under Providence, in their indi- 
vidual, but unanimous feeling, of aiding Joseph Lancaster's earhest ex- 
ertions, the Duke of Bedford, and Lord Somerville, being the first sub- 
scribers to his building. Among the nobility, Earl Stanhope and Lord 
Teignmouth had also previously subscribed to the school. 

J. Lancaster now found his scholars increased from 300 to 500, and 
then to 700, afterwards to more. He pursued the same object with 
the same success, and the fourth year of his annual subscription, was 
enabled to educate three pupils per annum for every guinea subscribed, 
which was performing three times as much as was agreed with his 
subscribers. 

It was only a short time after he had so perfected his system of tui- 
tion, relying on subscriptions and income from his publications, he had 
a printed inscription placed outside his house, " All who will, may send 
their children, and have them educated freely ; and those to whom the 
above oiler may not prove acceptable, may pay for them at a very 
moderate price." 

SEMINARY FOR TEACHERS. 

A school for schoolmasters was then formed, — a subscription opened 
to aid their maintenance, — a number of young lads were selected, who 
had previously been monitors more than two years. This undertaking, 
involving board, clothing, and collateral charges, conducted with the 
greatest frugality and economy, led to an annual expense beyond the 
income, which was very serious ; but on this one act depended, and 
from it has resulted, the consequent extension of the system, and a 
majority of the best schoolmasters, — those who have organized most 
schools in Europe. Those who have trained most teachers in the world, 
are chiefly found among the individuals whom Joseph Lancaster then 
trained as his adopted children. Few young men of twenty-five years 
of age, would have so devoted themselves, or incurred such a responsi- 
bility. But he does not regret it, for it is matter of public record in 
England, that in 1828, " It is not yet thirty years since Joseph Lan- 
caster published his system, and since then it is estimated that several 
millions of children have been educated." His subscrii)tion and other 



donation lists were totally inadequate to the expenditure. It never 
amounted to 500 pounds, not one year's expenditure, including food 
and clothing. 

J. L. did not satisfy himself by appeals to the purses of others, — he 
never spared his own. From the humble beginning in 1798, — when 
he spent twenty shillings of his pocket money in buying old flooring 
boards, and for economy fitting up his first school desks and forms with 
his own hands, — to 1803, 1804, his institution had become a place for 
strangers and foreigners to visit, as one of London's wonders. Large 
subscriptions had been freely given, in which the members of the soci- 
ety of friends again acted a generous and friendly part, and many 
hundred pounds, the produce of his publications, were all cheerfully, 
freely, and fully devoted to promote the object of the institution, which 
was the abode of order and happiness. 

The fame of his school and books, introduced him to the patronage of 
George the third and family, in 1805. This event proved a sad puzzler 
to a few advocates of ignorance, who would fain have cried church in 
danger from the king, but knew not how to accomplish it, in the face of 
facts which pleased all the people ; but it was a fine introduction to the 
nation. The years 1805 and 1807 saw it the theme of the Edinburgh 
Review, and the topic of English parliamentary motions. 

1806 exhibited the publication of the third edition of Joseph Lan- 
caster's work in New-York, and the establishment of the first school, 
out of Britain, upon J. Lancaster's system, and thence has gradually 
arisen that noble exemplification of public school education, which 
excels in magnitude and the simple grandeur of public usefulness, all 
other cities of the same amount of population in the world. This also 
began chiefly with the Friends of that city, and their fellow citizens 
have never failed to give them the credit of early encouraging and 
persevering in the establishment of a useful design of patriotic as 
well as moral good. 

Thomas Scattergood, an apostolic minister of the Friends at 
Philadelphia, soon after originated the first school in Philadelphia, and 
the same happy progress has resulted from the same cordial support 
given to early experiment by the Friends there, — a noble series of 
school buildings, an extensive and powerful series of schools, of which 
Roberts Vaux, who thirty years ago was enlisted by Thomas Scat- 
tergood, as a useful auxiliary, is President, — schools which honor the 
sister city with the fruit of knowledge and benevolence. These Ameri- 
can schools are coeval with the first out of London, and display the 
character of a people solicitous for substantial improvements. The 
subject might be extended, but time admits not further details. The 
system has spread from the Thames to the Ganges ; it has encircled 
the equator; it has encompassed the poles. 

Personal circumstances of Joseph Lancaster, — Lectures, Sfc. 

From 1805 a cloud of sorrow had penetrated the soul, and paralyzed 
the exertions of J. L. though but for a moment at once, yet in af- 
flicting successions, wave on wave of suffering. 

His wife, amiable and jhous, had been pronounced incurably and 
constitutionally deranged. In the highest tide of prosperity, taken by 

2 



10 

the right hand, not only by the princes, nobles and worthies of his native 
London, but of other nations ; patronized by his king, and cheered 
with the prospect of national and universal usefulness ; his happiness 
was not without alloy. The partner of his heart could never participate 
in its joys. For many years was he destitute of all domestic happiness, 
without hope or mitigation, but what proved transient and delusive. 
Four times was she lemoved from him to the private care of medical 
men ; and every time by the act of his friends, and not his own desire, 
though the necessity was painfully obvious to all who knew the actual 
circumstances of her otherwise excellent mind. This affliction at times 
alloyed all his comforts and embittered his existence, till he found no 
consolation but in religious submission to the Divine will. No fault or 
blame existed in the amiable cause of all his sorrows, nor did his dimin- 
ished happiness lessen his affection. She died some years ago, in the 
bosom of her family, and was blessed with an interval of reason and 
peace in her last moments, which compensated for a world of suffering. 
With this domestic trouble the reader would not have been made ac- 
quainted, but mysterious as it is, it led to the further development of 
his usefulness, and to the extension of education. It was many years 
past published, by an enemy, to distress his feelings. It is already 
before the public. 

On the first occcasion when she was removed from his habitation by 
direction of her medical advisers, he became so low and ill as to be 
unable to bear the place, and was advised himself to go into the coun- 
tiy, for change of air and repose of mind. He had no idea of lecturing 
as a pursuit, or a duty, though he had before spoken in public, on 
subjects connected with local schools, duties of parents, &c. Happen- 
ing to be at Watchet, in Somerset, on the side of the Bristol channel, 
he was invited by Joseph Jennings, now of New-York, and his 
friends, to a public opportunity, and he proposed a Lecture on education. 
This was his first ; the second was at Swansea, Wales ; the third near 
Cardiff, in the presence of J. L. Harford and Samuel Harford, Friends, 
of Bristol, who opened a subscription for a school ; the next at Bristol ; 
the following at Dover, Canterbury, Lynn, Cambridge, &c. Thus a 
new field of laborious usefulness, and traveling to lecture became his 
professional pursuit and duty. Thousands of miles has he traveled in 
England, often lecturing every niglTt in the week, and visiting " Sab- 
bath schools" at other times. Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, first 
advised him to charge a price for admission to his Lectures ; he did so 
in Gloucester, and the result was, in succession, many hundred pounds 
towards his traveling expenses, for promulgating his plans. What was 
most pleasing was, that in many places a school was established in con- 
sequence, often at the time, or immediately after his Lectures. From 
1798 to 1808, J. L. conducted the whole institution without a commit- 
tee. The debts consequent on the board of schoolmasters and school 
buildings became oppressive ; at that time trustees were named by him, 
who conducted the pecuniary part of the institution in his absence, and 
afforded him an opportunity of more extensively traveling and extend- 
ing his system. The buildings of the institution finally came into other 
hands ; his services became more at public and personal disposal, but it 



11 

ended in the surrender of all his property in that institution, about 1813, 
as secuiity for its debts, which were all of a public nature. The 
publiclargely gained, and he bitterly lost his all, a sacrifice on the altar 
of his own institution. 

The numerous societies and committees which have since arisen in 
many parts of the world, to adorn the cause of education, are all ad- 
mitted to have sprung from the original ten years labor of J. L. which 
have now been increased to thirty-kjve years, spent literally in 
public service without fee or reward. 

RECEPTION AT NEW-YORK, PHILADELPHIA, WASHINGTON. 

From 1813 to 1818, J. L. traveled extensively in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland. At 1818, J. L. landed at New-York and was 
kindly welcomed by Cadwallader D. Golden, then Mayor, R. Riker, 
the Recorder, Dr. Hosack, and by the Governor, De Witt Clin- 
ton, who was then lame in the country. The Governor invited him to 
Albany, and introduced him to the leading persons in the chief towns on 
the Hudson. Robert Wharton, the Mayor, the Recorder of Philadel- 
phia, Roberts Vaux, the benevolent president of the board of control 
for public schools, whose life has been devoted to benevolence and 
public usefulness, gave him a generous welcome to Philadelphia ; and 
on proceeding to Congress after his first Lecture, and before his second, 
from the speaker's chair a letter was put into his hands by the sergeant 
at arms, of which the following is A COPV : — 

" In the House of Representatives of the United States, January 
26, 1819, — On the motionof Mr. Bassett. 

Resolved, that Joseph Lancaster, the friend of learning and of man, 
be admitted to a seat within the hall of the House of Representatives. 

A Copy Attest, Thomas Dougherty, Clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives." 

This constitutes a specimen of the spirit and manner in which J. L. 
has generally been received in the United States. 

South America. 

Alter traveling, and many efforts for usefulness, in the United States, 
J. L. was taken sick, at Baltimore, and reduced to the brink of the 
grave. To his kind, skillful, and affectionate physician. Dr. Handy, 
of that city, he owes, under Providence, his restoration to life and use- 
fulness. He was soon after invited to South America. The history 
of delusive patronage there, is already before the public Suffice it to 
say, that Bolivar's boasted deed of gi/l, for $22,000, is still dishonor- 
ed at this date in London, for which J. L. holds official evidence and 
documents from his agent. Three years were spent there, and he and 
his family were glad to escape with their lives from that land of de- 
ceit, revolution, and blood. His wife came to Philadelphia, after much 
■ ill-usage in Colombia, and was treated like a father and a friend, by 
that honor to the name of man and christian, Robert Ralston, Esq., 
the father of a family of generous hearts- Joseph Lancaster himselt 
had, with his wife's desire and consent, to take a more circuitous route 
by St. Thomas, St. Croix, and thence to New-Haven, where agam 



12 

every friend oi learning and man, rallied round him, and maxle him feel 
that he again breathed the atmosphere of tVeemen, who rejoiced to hail a 
friend of knowledge to the hospitalities of their shores, and the welcome 
of their hearts. 

In all nations there are individuals who do little honor to their country, 
though they ought generally to be received, not as a specimen, but as 
exceptions to the national character. So there are places which form 
exceptions ; as with men so with towns. Such was the experience and 
unhappy contrast to J. 'LPs, family, his wife and children, more than him- 
self, at Trenton, in 1828. This need not be enlarged upon, as being 
well known to the public in New-York, by the munificent and noble 
donation of 500 dollars, given on the motion of Alderman Peters, by 
the Corpoiation of New- York, in 1828, and the kind aid from New- 
Haven by J. Brewster ; a circumstance which, with other kindness, 
sympathy, and good feeling, will endear New-York and New-Haven 
to the grateful remembrance of J. Lancaster and his family to the last 
moment of existence. To this must be added the contributions from 
Montreal, from HoRATio Gates, from John White, and from 
Quebec. 

As J. L's wife and family had a constitution enfeebled by a southern 
climate, and by their sickness and ill-usage at Trenton, (husbands and 
fathers need not muffle their tongues or their pens when wives or child- 
dren suffer,) their native air of England was thought best for the re- 
storation of their health. They at last determined to go there from Mon- 
treal or Quebec. 

When they left New- York, on their way to Whitehall, the mother 
and her youngest son were again taken ill ; the lives of both in dan- 
ger, the latter despaired of. When able to travel on, relapse after re- 
lapse occurred again on their road to Montreal. They owe much to 
the benevolence and friendship of B. F. Butler, (now Attorney General 
to the United States,) Simeon De Witt, P. F. Beck, C R. Webster, 
the Mayor Townsend, Esq., and many other sympathizing friends. 
Their gratitude and thanks are also due to P. N. Myers, of Whitehall, 
and Captain Smith, to the kind-hearted Cady, innkeeper of Burling- 
ton, and to the excellent Captain Sherman of the steamboat Franklin. 

Were we to notice all who have rendered us services, that justly 
claim our thanks, we must write a volume of names and another of mer- 
its. It is a gratifying thing, for the honor of humanity, that there are 
such noble feelings in full play as demand the tribute due from those 
who know, by sad experience, the cheering nature of sympathy under 
sickness and suffering. 

Barker, of Schuylerville, claims our thanks for brotherly kindness, 
and Horatio Gates, and his nephew Bancroft, welcomed us to 
Montreal, with all the love and money we wanted on our arrival. 
Praise may be offensive, but silence would be treason, against such hon- 
orable minds, and we must speak our thoughts ; we now say to our best 
friends too little by nine-tenths of what we ought to say in common jus- 
tice to an entire. stranger. 

The season was then too far advanced to think of a passage from 
Quebec, with a wife and family in tender health. In consequence, we 



13 

were oblioed to winter in Montreal, and decided that we would he '.iseful 
Sir James Kempt, then Governor-in-chief of the British Provinces, 
gave to J. L., in 1829, the same kind, cordial, and generous welcome, 
as his predecessor, Earl Dalhousie, gave in 1828, at Quebec ; Earl 
Dalhousie having been one of J. L's. first subscribers, 20 years before. 
By the kindness of the Governor, all our baggage of school furniture, and 
printing materials, came into the province without tax or impediment. 
He besides gave £10 at once, which he afterwards engaged to double, 
in favor of the experiments proposed to him. 

The first experiment proposed, was, taking a certain number of pu- 
pils from the Lancasterian school of Montreal, whose ignorance was re- 
corded on the books, by being in the lowest classes, before J. L. enter- 
ed that city; and with permission of the committee," putting them 
through a new course of practical instruction. This was done ; eight 
boys were selected by the school-master, none of whom could read, 
and most of whom knew nothing but their letters, and several not even 
their alphabet. They Avere soon qualified to teach each other, and in 
the space of five weeks were examined by their teacher, vpho passed 
near two hours with them alone. The result was, that they were all 
able to read, were fluent in spelling, and some of them able to write, 
besides having acquired a most avaricious love of learning, and inces- 
sant application to self-tuition, created effectually by the process in all 
their minds. The teacher, a very respectable man, who had been 
trained and educated in the Borough Road school, of London, and who 
did credit to his instructions, was lost in astonishment at the change in 
his pupils. That the improvement was made, he had full demonstration ; 
but how it was accomplished, remains to him an enigma, for he then de- 
clared he knew of no process in the Lancasterian system, as he had 
been taught it, which could produce such an effect. The pupils were 
all young, and were the most difficult temper and materials for such an 
experiment ; Scotch brogue, Yorkshire provincialisms, German ac- 
cent, erroneous idioms, and two cases of stammering tongues, one very 
bad, were found among them, — yet success was attained. And as to 
the facts, they were as invincible as the process was inconceivable to 
many minds. 

This experiment became the subject of a printed report. The mem- 
bers of the committee, and the subscribers to the Lancasterian school, 
were invited to examinations of the pupils. The highest gratification 
was expressed, and the parents seemed unable to proclaim their delight. 

This first experiment gave rise to a second ; a pay school was form- 
ed at the pressing request of a number of respectable persons, who were 
subscribers to the public Lancasterian school, and in about five weeks 
from its commencement some of the first citizens were astonished at find- 
ing their sons and daughters able to read fluently the first three or four 
chapters of John, and the third of Daniel, and in proportion, readily any 
where else. 

The experiment was now demonstrated, as applicable in a school of 
thirty pupils, carrying on the general business of the school, and yet ap- 
plying the newly discovered powers to any class of pupils, who might 
specifically n«ed them. A mentiorial was drawn up for the Parliameat 



14 

of Lower Canada, signed by many uC tlie most respectable pei'sons in 
-Montreal, who had witnessed the experiment ; and the Legislature grant- 
ed £200 currency for carrying on further experiments. 

J. L. was told, that time, by the speaker, that if he could discover 
the principle on which he acted, there was no doubt that the Parliament 
would make a very liberal grant. J. L. replied, that the test of experi- 
ment was the point to which he wished to bring several connected branch- 
es of elementary tuition, and that he did not wish for pecuniary con- 
siderations, however highly important, to make any discovery of a part, 
till he had completed the whole. And to this day he rests satisfied, 
that he has taken that line of conduct which was most for the interest 
of mankind, though more immediately least for his own. It has always 
been a burthen to his mind to be under the painful necessity of 
having any secrets from the public. Yet that public, he is sure, know 
that he never has been a monopolist, and that it must be better for him to 
complete all his experiments, than bring forth one, however well finish- 
ed, in an unconnected state. 

Experiments continued,^ — Cholera, &c. &c. 

Another experiment afterwards took place in a school increased to 60 
pupils. His success in writing and arithmetic equaled that in reading. 
All things were ready for calling in public notaries to make the attesta- 
tions which would be evidence in other countries, vrhen the cholera 
broke out and shut up every school, and covered every heart in Mon- 
treal with grief and mourning. 

The cause and eflfect were equally discouraging ; but after a few 
months, the experiment was again resumed. The earliest season of 
confirmed health recommenced with a new experiment. In the first sta- 
ges of the operations of a new class, school was thin, and its cares, 
few. It was then discovered that a most material point in the former 
experiments had escaped observation ; and that several other points 
would bear a much more accurate definition, and consequently possess a 
more powerful bearing. The first experiments, founded as they were 
on years of practical observation, were like the possession of a magnet. 
The last proved how it might be made to form a compass, by placing it 
on a pivot. The simple nature of the magnet is the same on the pivot 
as off; but to make the great discovery of the mariner's compass, the 
placing the magnet on the pivot was indispensable. The position of 
the magnet, — the consequent use of the compass, was greater than the 
discovery of magnetism itself. The difTerence of position is in itself a 
trifle, a mere matter of amusement for children, and contemplation for 
men ; but the difference of eflfect is marvellous, and connects all na- 
tions, — guides the mariner over the pathless ocean, and gives to all peo- 
ple of the world the privilege of intercourse with the great human family. 
Similar is the effect in all useful discoveries ; they rest on a pivot ; the 
NICETY of the point on which they rest is often minute, — so minute as 
in the hurry of general cares and concerns, may escape observation. 
Thus the finally successful points of J. Lancaster's experiments he con- 
siders as actually consequent on the affliction of the cholera, — conse- 
quent of the breaking up of his school, the defeat of his past labors with 



15 

one class, and the revision ol lus experiments under circumstances of., 
leisure, with another, aided by observation, which were the result of im- 
proved and recent experience. Quiet contemplation was the focus of 
discovery, and that originated in the opportunity which was created by 
the direst and most distressing calamity, compelling him again to begin 
anew, and go over the same ground again, when he absolutely thought 
he had discovered all he could discover, had finished his work, and had 
no inclination left personally to travel over the same road another time. 
Benjamin F. Butler, now attorney-general of the United States, has 
long been distinguished, as many eminent men of all parties in the 
United States distinguish themselves, by being friends of education in 
general, and advocates of the Lancasterian system in particular. In 
an anniversary discourse before the Albany Institute, in 1830, after ex- 
pressing the most decided approbation, he states that " our sparse popu- 
lation, and the comparative absence oi' pauperism in the interior of the 
State, have confined the Lancasterian schools to our cities and large 
villages." He also remarks, this " discovery is best adapted to large 
cities, or thickly populated countries." The judgment of this gentle- 
man is correct ; and, before perusing his excellent observations, the au- 
thor of the system had for many years felt their substantial force. The 
object of his recent experiments has been to perfect the powers of his 
system, so as to apply to a village school of forty or fifty pupils, more or 
less, as well as to four or five hundred ; also, to perfect the training of 
monitors and teachers, — to simplify the construction of lessons, — to re- 
duce their number in the elements, and extend them in the branches of 
superior education, — to perfect the mode of training teachers, and of 
making them practically acquainted with all their duties : and he hopes 
that he shall not be permitted by a gracious Providence to close his 
earthly career, till he has perfected and published his new disco- 
veries. In all the confidence of past experience, in all the candour and 
the humility of good intentions, at least he hopes he shall be found to 
leave behind him a greater blessing for the welfare of youth than any 
he has already been honored by a merciful Providence with bringing 
into usefulness. 

The circumstance of J. L. having devoted his life to the cause of ed- 
ucation, has given to him peculiar and valuable opportunities of observa- 
tion. He does not assume any superior talent to other men who equally 
desire to promote the same object ; and he is much farther from pretend- 
ing to any patent for perfection, or exemption from human infirmities. 
If he boasts of any thing, it may be, that, after all his experience, he 
desires to be a learner, as long as there is any thing left to learn, and 
is willing to improve himself, that he may be more able to improve his 
system, and benefit others. On this he grounds his respectful claim to 
being heard on the subject of his improvements. 

PROPOSED PUBLICATION BY SUBSCRIPTION. 

J. Lancaster freely gave away his first and earliest discoveries. He 
is too poor and infirm, too old, and too near the period of life when in- 
firmities gather and thicken on gray hairs, to be able now to print and 
give away volumes gratis. He has, therefore, to look to the public for 



16 

iupport, by subscription to a publication which shall present them with 
all the experience he has acquired. He wishes to publish a useful work 
on his improvements in elementary education, without risking the little 
all which remains to him and his family, in another benevolent specula- 
tion or endeavor to be serviceable to the public. 

This is proposed to be done in a small publication, at one dollar per 
coTpy, payable in advance, for which a subscription has been honorably 
opened and advanced, in Montreal and Quebec. A southern climate 
had so enervated the constitutions of his family, as to make them pecu- 
liar subjects of the usual diseases incident to the United States and Up- 
per Canada. In consequence, for health^ s sake, they have been located 
in the fine bracing climate of Montreal, and have been kindly cheered 
by the most respectable British, American, and Canadian friends of 
knowledge, in that city and Quebec. Benevolence and liberality exist 
in all the country, but then they are only compact and concentrated in 
those large cities, and there they are associated with more abundant 
means ; though heavily oppressed by continual calls of a benevolent and 
pressing nature. 

The slow growth, and actual expenditure of time and money, in 
raising the subscription in such a scanty population, requires him to look 
elsewhere for sutlicient means to put his publication to jiress ; and where 
can he ap|)eal so conveniently and so freely as in a city like New-York, 
where his system was first introduced, 27" years past, where fourteen 
thousand children continually enter the temples of knowledge, in which 
the generous spirits of their fatherly fellow citizens spread for them the 
rich banquets of instruction } 

It is to cities and towns where the acknowledged benefits of this 
system are established in the public mind, that he can, with most pro- 
priety, appeal for indispensable aid, which may at once contribute to the 
comfort and wants of his family, to the comfort of his age, to the ex- 
tension of his usefulness, and the promulgation of every additional good 
he may be able to render to mankind. As to New-Haven, there 
is a school conducted by a pupilof his own, with high honor ; for John 
Lovell has educated his thousands, during ten years, and lives to be use- 
ful, beloved and respected by his pupils. To such places, and to Phil- 
adelphia, in particular, he appeals, and hopes he shall not be permitted 
to appeal in vain. 

A subscription for 3000 copies will give him the sum of 1,500 dollars, 
free and clear for himself and family, while it places the public in pos- 
session of much information ; the result of facts, observation, and per- 
sonal knowledge, acquired under peculiar circumstances, in varied, ex- 
tensive, and remarkable fields of labor ; and this amount will be little 
more than the annual income of some of his own well paid pupils, when 
acting as teachers for one year. 

It is well known to the American as well as British public, that the 
friends of Joseph Lancaster in Europe, and especially in England, are 
spontaneously rallying round him, in his old age, — they are providing 
an annuity intended to kjep him in future above the vicissitudes to 
which the singular and varied scenes of his past life have exposed him.. 
No results or receipts can be expected from this source until the spring 



17 

of 1834. Present suiiering, however, results from relief being pro- 
tracted to a distant period. 

His friends in England are also soliciting a grant of land for his 
family in Lower Canada. These two things alone will answer the 
few wants and simple wishes of his future life. There is one luxury- 
only which he desires, beyond the aid he may derive from his publica- 
tion ; it is the means of giving to his own children a superior educa- 
tion, under his own eye. This he will consider a reward worthy the 
labor of his whole life. It will, however, be attended with expense for 
the services of others ; he hopes the profits of his publication will be 
increased so as to forward this purpose : at present that most desirable, 
and to a father's heart most important object, is very much suspended. 
And perhaps the hardest of all his privations, which have borne heaviest 
on his mind, is that which relates to the impediments in the way of 
finishing, himself, the education of his beloved family. Of the good 
he has done, the world is his witness ; what he has aimed at and in- 
tended to do, is best known to the Searcher of hearts, but is little 
known to any man. From his early care of the children of others, who 
had no claim on his parental affections, the most suffering results have 
many years ago occurred to himself, and, also, the happiest con- 
sequences to thousands and tens of thousands of others. It is a singular 
fact, that the present teacher of the first Lancasterian school in London, 
and the teacher of what is called the Bell, or rival national school, 
were both once children i'ed and clothed by his bounty, from early 
childhood. The provincial schools of England are not less remark- 
able for having been first organized by those who were at his table, and 
instructed under his care. Bristol, Dover, Lynn, Hull, Cambridge, 
Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Dublin, and many other 
places, are examples. 

Singular instances of usefulness, as lo training teachers- 
James Penney. 

About the year ISll, a lad not 17 years old, who a few yeais be- 
fore had been adopted in J. L's family, actually organized schools for 
above a thousand pupils, and trained teachers for the same. He was 
a mild, affectionate and patient teacher, delighted with his work. The 
improvement resulting from his efforts had much the same effect in 
surprising the parents of English country children, as the first steam- 
boat had in confounding the wise and astonishing the ignorant, among 
the same country people, who were strangers to the nature of the 
machinery. In one case a countryman absolutely waited upon a cler- 
gyman to complain that his child learned so much and so fast ; that, as 
he never knew children get on with their learning at that rapid rate, 
he concluded that the Lancasterian sytem must be effected by tvitch' 
craft. The clergyman amiably entered on the scruples of his neigh- 
bor's conscience, and succeeded in satisfying his parishioner that neither 
magic, incantation, or witchcraft, had any thing to do in the business. 
This fine fatherless boy, to whom J. Lancaster had become a father, 
afterwards, educated during a series of years, many thousand children, 
and finally went out to Serampore as schoolmaster, connected with the 

3 



18 

extensive schools of the Baptist Mission. Earl and Lady Moira, after- 
wards Marquis of Hastings, had seen him when a boy, teaching in 
school under J. Lancaster's immediate direction ; they honored him with 
kind and tiarticular notice when they saw him again in India. 

Maurice Cross, of Belfast 
In another instance, about 1807, a very fine boy of seven or eight 
years of age, came under J. L's particular notice as a scholar. After 
a time the boy's father died, and he found another parent in his 
affectionate teacher. He soon distinguished himself as a monitor, and 
then as a teacher, and then in successfully training teachers. He was 
also much admired for his facility in explaining the plan to visitors- 
Many of the first rank and distinction from foreign parts, were among 
the number of those who hung on his lips with surprise and delight. 
He traveled extensively over England and Scotland, with J. Lancaster, 
as an aid in lecturing ; always honored and respected in every society 
to which he was introduced. Finally, at seventeen years old, he was 
placed by his foster parent in the Lancasterian school for 500 pupils, at 
Belfast. There he continued seventeen years as teacher, preserving 
the same rank in public esteem, and educating thousands of pupils in 
succession Within these two years he has become cashier of the sa- 
vings bank, Belfast, a situation of high respectability and trust, and 
aflording hiin the literary leisure which he loves. He is now a visitor 
and committee-man of that institution which he so long and so happily 
conducted ; and is author of an appeal subjoined to these pages, which 
proves that the afTeclion shown to him in childhood, lives lively, green, 
fruitful and flourishing, in mature age ; with ripened talents and glowing 
feelings for the friend of his infant years. A work entitled selections 
from the Edinburgh Review, published by Longman of London, is 
also the produce of his fertile pen. The quantity of mental improve- 
ment he has made by his own industry, reflects high honor on his 
character and conduct. 

There is one pupil not less grateful, affectionate, and honorable, that 
must be noticed, for it is his due, though not a teacher of youth, but 
a merchant and manufacturer, now living at 102 Water street, New- 
York. His salamander iron chests, which seem to live in fire, and even 
to laugh at flames, and all the power of red hot ashes, to burn bank 
notes, or render important documents illegible, when locked in them, 
will have their specification at the close of these pages. But it is as a 
friend, in the hour of deep affliction, that Joseph Lancaster can face the 
public of the world, and point exultingly to such pupils as James 
George Penney, Maurice Cross, John E. Lovell, and Charles James 
Gayler, and say, with the same parental feeling that the Roman mother 
pointed out her children to those who had exhibited their jewels of 
gold and silver, " These are my jewels." They are indeed beyond ali 
price, and especially 

In seasons of distress, when sorrow pours her bitters in my heart, 
When heaven seems biass, and earth with iron bars 
Doth hold her cheering goodliness from me. 



19 

the worth of these treasures to a father's heart has been well proved iu 
the hour of adversity. 

Extension of Schools. — John E. Lovelt.. 

Independent of hundreds of thousands educated in the British domin- 
ions, and the United States, France, Germany, Netherlands, Holland, 
Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, Siberia, 
Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, New Holland, Madagascar, the isles of 
the Pacific, and China itself, exhibit specimens of the usefulness of 
this system to mankind ; and yet it began with a youth of eighteen, 
whose whole stock was tuientij English shillings, his entire riches as 
pocket money, — the mighty sum which fitted up the first school-room 
for this mighty work. 

The number of pupils educated are computed at millions. The 
number of dollars expended in building of school rooms are computed 
at millions. The aggregate sums expended on the salaries of teachers, 
on rewards and materials for instruction, are justly estimated at millions. 
And like the magnet, which once imbued with the magnetic virtue, can 
part with it and magnetize thousands which never imbibed it before, 
and yet retain the principle of its original virtue undiminished ; .so the 
system has lost none of its etficacy by diifusion ; for with the power of 
dififusion proceed's that of the concentration of strength accompanying 
the extension in most ample forms. 

The late Lord Molesworth, who with his lady was shipwrecked on 
his return from Ceylon, a few years ago, had taken personal instructions 
from Joseph Lancaster, how to conduct a school on his system. While 
resident in Ceylon, he commanded a native regiment in the East India 
Company's service, in which he established a school. In a description 
of this school, which he wrote to J. Lancaster, he stated, that the regi- 
ment was composed of men from every climate in Asia, — various in 
their colors as any thing from the Cape of Good Hope to China could 
present; that their wives were as motley a group as themselves, and 
that when the children of the pupils were assembled, he supposed that 
of the 300 faces," there Vv'ere not two of one color or complexion, — a 
motley group, unequaled and unprecedented in any school in the world. 

Numerous, indeed, are similar instances ; astonishing in effect has 
been the happy results of taking youth of favorable minds, and warm 
hearts, and placing them under the care of Joseph Lancaster. On the 
other hand, few have, indeed, been the instances in which he has cause 
for regret for the public good, that he spent the prime of his days, and 
chief of his substance on his adopted children, and that he finally had to 
lose so much for their sakes. We have now a third instance,- — but 
thirty could be easily adduced. J E- Lovell, of the Lancasterian school 
New-Haven, came to Joseph Lancaster when quite a lad. A friend, 
of his neighborhood, a kind fatherly feeling man, had marked the boy 
as one who had good capacity, and was likely to fill the office of teacher 
with usefulness. He proposed building a school-room by the time this 
young teacher of his own selection could be qualified. However, sick- 
ness took hold of this aged friend, and then J. E. Lovell became al- 
together an adopted son of Joseph Lancaster's family, — -a family more 



20 ' 

numerous than the patriarch Jacob's, and to which he had been wel- 
comed at first sight. He distinguished himself as teacher of the school 
established by the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn, and sedulously de- 
voted his leisure hours at the " midnight lamp," in company with the 
present classical and accomplished secretary of the Duke of Bedford, 
Wiffen, the celebrated poet, the fame of whose works has pen- 
etrated even into the recesses of South America. As teacher he 
also conducted J. Lancaster's original school, for a time, with high 
credit, and in a manner unequaled since. He traveled with him 
and attended his lectures. He went through every duty and process 
calculated to imbue and ingrain his m.ind with the habitual principles and 
practice of the system, so that he had the practice at his fin- 
ger's end, and the acquisitions of art and study became the operations 
of second nature. Finally, J. Lancaster, after coming to the United 
States, sent for him, placed him again with himself, till on an application 
from his hospitable friends, Timothy Dwight and W. H. Jones, of 
New-Haven, he gave him up, as schoolmaster for that district. 
Thousands of pupils have, during ^ew years past, been educated, " plants 
of his hands and children of his care," and he daily reads the history 
of his life in the eyes of the children of the city, where he has found an 
abode of usefulness and peace. Like Maurice Cross, of Belfast, 
his early companion and friend, he has become an author, and his ad- 
mirable Arithmetic, and United States Speaker, have obtained very 
high testimonials to his abilities in elocution. He distinguished himself 
as Profes'ior of Elocution at Amherst ; but the performances of his pupils 
at New-Haven, have long converted his anniversary exhibitions into 
rare exemplifications of talent and themes of delight ; the fire of his 
soul has been incorporated into his work, and it meets rapid sale and 
high approbation. Here are three instances of high places held in pub- 
lic esteem by J. L's. former pupils, which alone are sufficient to reward 
the labors of a hfe. These three persons, since they were youth, have 
by keeping schools, by training teachers with continued industry, directly 
and indirectly, contributed to promote the education of near 60,000 of 
their younger brethren of the family of man. 

On such themes it will be thought the writer, as a parent and teacher, 
could dwell forever. The recollection of them in many a trying hour, 
has gladdened, and will continue to gladden his heart, and brighten the 
short remainder of days, of which the children of the world have 
hitherto had the chief gladness and he the chief sorrow. Such circum- 
stances, however, are calculated to raise the tears of joy in the eye, 
while they wipe those of sorrow from the heart. 

The reader has seen the anecdote under the head of James Penney, 
about success and rapid irriprovement in the Lancasterian system, arising 
out of witchcraft. This was superstition ; but the writer asks the 
reader now to suppose that Joseph Lancaster is really, for a few min- 
utes, a magician. He may array him, if he pleases, in his imagina- 
tion, in a broad hat, a square cap, a long gown, or Joseph's own coat 
of many colors ; and see what a scene the magic of a pen, as his most 
powerful wand, can raise before a reader's eyes. 

Suppose him to have the power of calling from every nation on earth, 



21 

teachers with two or three classes of their pupils, as specimens of the 
fruits of his system. The Jews with their Hebrew, (for their schools 
are many,) the Greeks with their Greek, (and their schools are many,) 
and those who study Latin, (and the Latin schools are many,) all the 
ancient classics would be found among the modern and living langua- 
ges ; and the children of most of the nations and families of men would 
be found in this living university of pupils, acquiring in their own tongue 
the civilizing powers of knowledge, and reading in their own language 
the wonderful works of God. 

Truly such an imaginary scene, founded as it is on facts, and affording 
contemplation of having been an undesigning instrument of Providence 
in bringing such mighty . powers of usefulness into action, is heart- 
cheering, while it is cause of sincere thankfulness. Yet so many have 
been the losses and trials of life for many years, and so poignant the 
pangs of present suffering, that the consolations of all his existence, and 
even all the superlative joys oi benevolence, have not been greater than 
the necessity for them, not as luxuries or triumphs, but as consolations. 
The next section will show that there has been much more danger 
of the writer's heart being broken within him, of his absolutely sinking 
down into annihilation of spirit and energy, than of that self-exaltation 
and pride, which many of his real friends would think must naturally 
grow out of such circumstances with any man, were these circumstan- 
ces alone and unmixed with others of a more, say of a 7nost alloying 
and painful nature. The public have seen him only in the high sail of 
public service ; of his ballast they know but little. They have partici- 
pated in his joys ; of his sorrows they have had less knowledge, and 
less share. His heart has fed alone on its own bitterness, even to the 
very dregs. 

CIRCUMSTANCES OF SUFFERING. 

The domestic trials of J. Lancaster, from the affliction of his wife's 
mind, lasted seventeen years. Four times was he mocked with hope 
of recovery, and as awful was the disappointment. The cup of happi- 
ness seemed prepared as often to his hand, and as often dashed from 
his lips. This alone was dreadful : but it came not alone. If his suc- 
cess carried him sometimes to a palace, his expenses for his orphan and 
teacher class carried him to a prison, more than once. True no bars or 
walls could long detain his spirit, and his courage abated not. Difficul- 
ties were only made to be conquered, and troubles were servants to carry 
on his usefulness still further ; and he rose from privation and loss, 
as with a mind invigorated and refreshed to encounter double difficulties 
and commence more arduous undertakings. His usefulness in lecturing 
sprung out of his deepest grief. It would take volumes to narrate the 
changing scenes he has witnessed, and often indeed might we trace 
the eras of his greatest usefulness from the period of his greatest 
suffering. Among the most trying of all his existing exercises, is the 
absence of his only child, the daughter of his first wife, in Mexico. 
This sacrifice of an only one, though not the choice of his own will, 
has been one of the bitterest griefs of his heart. She has been years 
with her husband, one of his early pupils, who is teaching school with 



22 

success and honorable iisefiihiess in tlie city of Gaudalaxara, a t-ity in 
the interior of Mexico. From the talents of her husband, this painful 
separation is attended with high usefulness to that comnruinity ; but 
no other consolation is enjoyed by her father, who has seen and blessed 
thousands and tens of thousands of children of others, but can neither 
be privileged to see nor bless (in person) the child of his heart, or 
her little ones, who are the only ones in the world who literally 
crown his grey hairs with grandeur. 

TRIALS OF PRINCIPLE. 

The trials of integrity during his arduous work, have not been small. 
In the first instance, from religious motives, all the opportunity of pre- 
ferment which the church of England afforded him was shut up, by 
the choice of a religious profession which admits of no pecuniary gain, 
by display of native or cultivated talents in religious assemblies. 

About twelve months after England's King, George the third, be- 
came J. Lancaster's friend and patron, some of the clergy, without 
cause, and without offence, became his enemies. On which the king 
sent him a kind message, " That if, with a good conscience, he could 
confoi'm to the church of England, he might command any thing in 
reason, that he pleased." Not a moment's hesitation was made in re- 
plying that he " could not conform with a good conscience," under- 
standing to the Jii'ng''s honor, that other conformity was not wished. 
Here again was another trial of integrity. But when in after years 
.1. L's power, as a public speaker, came into esteem, and thousands and 
tens of thousands gathered round him, and hung their attention on his 
lips, he could not but see many indications that he might make his 
way into many pulpits and partake of all the usual good things in 
consequence ; get rid of poverty and yet live highly respected, as to his 
pecuniary circumstances in society. But no : when the question was, 
suffer on, or sacrifice conscience to better his circumstances, he chose 
the cross, believing in an everlasting crown, reserved for all who v/alk 
in sincerity and truth, before the invisible, but ever present Searcher 
of hearts. 

On one occasion of his life he might have commanded a valuable in- 
come, but the implied condition was to acknowledge as truth and fact, 
what he knew to be false. He turned his back on his pretended 
friends, and scouted such income, and preferred poverty and all its 
evils to living like a cow in clover, up to the eyes, not in food, but in 
falsehood. 

On another occasion, when ten pence would have been an accepta- 
ble favor, he was offered what in present want was a large sum, to 
affix his name to a book written by another person, who was paid for 
composition, but was not at liberty to publish his own name. The 
book was unobjectionable, — a useful compilation, but he made it not, — 
want was urgent ; but no urgency of circumstances, no, nor soft per- 
suasion of sincere friendship, would warrant compliance ; and he is now, 
in old age, thankful that he was enabled to prefer suffering to the sac- 
rifice of principle. John E. Lovell, of New-Haven, knows the fact, that 
Joseph Lancaster was then compelled to send his pocket bible to the 



23 

pawn-broker to get money for present tood and lodging, and tins in 
England ! But he did not long leave his bible so. 

On a very recent occasion, if he would only have allowed a partial 
and snnall parliamentary benevolence to have been converted mto a 
bribe, to sell his vote contrary to his conscience and his promise, he 
might have had the praise of a party who hold the purse strings of the 
public treasury in Canada. But no, he had never in his life voted at 
an election before, he might never vote again, he had the right, he held 
the right sacred to himself and children ; he had accidentally given his 
promise to a friend he loved, he dared not commit the moral wrong ol 
breaking his word ; he dared no more compromise the least particle ot 
universal liberty, than the least principle of a good conscience; and he 
'refused, though advised by the supposed purse-holding individual of all 
parliamentary grants, to " consider how the land lies." 

The principles of civil liberty, us far as they aie universal, are the 
the same over the globe. They are the right and property of the whole 
human race. The principles of religious liberty, and of humanity, are 
always the same. It was on this principle that at 54 years of age 
Joseph Lancaster publicly said : •' That he would sooner suffer the last 
drop of his blood to be shed before his eyes, than compromise the least 
particle of liberty." It was not threats .which could deter him from 
duty. Thus all his life free from politics, never even voting at an elec- 
tion, he would prefer publicly being a beggar to living as a pensioner 
and a slave. Such bribery will do for bad men, and will buy pap 
enough for their babies. But Americans give Joseph Lancaster good 
hommony, and hospitality ; and the sons of John Bull promise him 
roast-beef, and plum-pudding : that childish food called pap he may 
safely leave lor babies, who knov? of nothing better. 

PERSONAL POWERS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. 

A singular concentration of powers has been found and admitted to 
exist in Joseph Lancaster. 1st. The skill and talent to invent. 2d. 
A delight in youth and their society, and for their benefit his inventions 
came into existence. 3d. A power of verbal and interesting explana- 
tion. 4th. A power of writing clearly on the subject of his discovery. 
6th. A natural qualification enhanced by practice of speaking or lec- 
turing on the subject. 6th. A readiness of reply as Avell as of expe- 
dients, adapted to the most critical, important, and interesting occasions. 
7th. A devotedness of time, talent, and property, to the cause, embra- 
cing a willingness to sutfer aa well as act or succeed, for that v^ork. 8th. 
An unwearied perseverance in the pursuit of education, from the fiist 
commencement of early life to its present advanced period. 9th. That 
fearlessness of opposition which only the consciousness of a good cause, 
and a good conscience could inspire. lOth. A frequent cheerfulness 
and happiness even in calamity and suffering. '' A contented mind is a 
continual feast." 11th. The whole of his opportunities as peculiar as 
his capacities. So that he must ascribe, with humility and gratitude, 
the praise and power of all to Him whose superintending providence 
proves him to be the giver of every good and perfect gift. 

To this capacity and these opportunities, the results of which are sin- 



guiar degree of experience and maturity of talent, are to be added his 
future prospects of usefulness. Is it for the interest of humanity that 
these talents should be in future and forever buried in the mantle of 
poverty ? Will not the friends of universal education find it for the in- 
terest of the cause to encourage and aid his future usefulness ? 

He has a lovely and interesting family, children of his wife, by her 
former husband, John Robinson of Philadelphia, who was a much honored 
friend of his for twenty years. When dying, John Robinson left as a 
legacy his only daughter to Joseph Lancaster. A considerable snace 
after his death, and not knowing any thing of this circumstance, Joseph 
Lancaster paid his addresses to the widow. They were accepted, and 
he came into possession of his legacy, — this lovely olive plant around 
his table, without knowing that such a precious boon had been left him 
till afterwards. 

It is a singular thing in the history of his life, that hundreds and 
thousands sterling should have been left to his schools, and nothing to 
himself, but this. Oh, world of strange forgetfulness and fickle friend- 
ship ! Yet this jewel of her father's heart has been the greatest con- 
solation he has known for many years. One of his pursuits, he hopes, 
if favored to obtain an independent income, will be her education, in the 
fullest sense of the term, as well as that of her brothers. This pursuit 
will open a new series of experiments, with new subjects. The public 
will have the results ; may they be good and useful. 

In conjunction with the members of his family, he may form a small 
class to promote their education, by studying in society with other youth 
more effectually. He wishes not to undertake large concerns, but to 
live in usefulness, with prudent economy, and pursue only peace and 
prosperity for all men. He hopes to furnish his life and travels at 
length, of which he has a great deal written. After caring so much 
for the children of a w^orld, he trusts it will not be found too late to care 
for his own, and that more effectually by reason of his peculiar know- 
ledge of the youthful mind, and his study of education, as the science 
of the human soul. 

Considering that adverse events, sickness, and loss, have four times 
deprived him of all his little property, (the last in Colombia,) consider- 
ing that his heart has been grieved with the death of a beloved sister 
in a parish work-house, — with the death of an honored and beloved fa- 
ther in sutlering circumstances, — with the poverty and want of an only 
surviving sister, — with the derangement of a beloved wife, — with the 
death of all his brothers, — with the loss, by absence and a foreign land, 
of an only child, — with personal want, privation and family suffering, — 
with inability to provide alt proper books for the education of his own 
children, — with absolute want of the means to relieve the poor and 
needy, the sick and afflicted, whom he never sent empty away, while he 
had ability to console and relieve ; surely he may now hope that this 
accumulation of heart-rending and soul-harrowing sorrows have so filled 
the cup of bitterness, that it may be said, providentially, " It is enough," 
and that the Father of mercies will crown these deep and bitter afflic- 
tions with the oil of joy for mourning and grief. 

It was never expected by J. L. that the exposure which has been 



25 

made in England of his private circumstances, M^ould have taken place 
so publicly. But it is done ; all seems to indicate, that if he has any 
remaining pride of appearing as he has been used to appear before 
men, it is the good will of heaven, that he must bear this humbling, gall- 
ing dispensation, as his cross ; and under that feeling, he endeavors to 
submit to what has been and is now severely lacerating to his feelings. 
But he is conscious that he has neglected nothing in his power, that in- 
dustry or diligence could admit, to avert it. He, for instance, could 
not restrain the cholera, — a cause which called him and his whole family 
to stand firmly forth in the hour of death and danger, and aid efTectually 
in saving the lives of many others ; yet that disease suspended his school, 
and rendered all his endeavors for many preceding months, o7«e dreary 
blank. Under all these circumstances, knowing that he who abases 
can as easily honor ; knowing that he who wounds can heal, and he 
who dasheth in pieces can put all together again ; he does this duty 
due to his afflicted family, in that resignation which teaches that the 
divine will is for the best, though man often sees not the reasonable 
cause, and yet bows with ''THY WILL BE DONE." 
Maurice Cross, and John E. Lovell. 
The following appeal from the pen of Maurice Cross, of Belfast, in 
favor of the annuity, is one of the most gratifying productions that ever 
operated like balm on the wounded heart of a laborious and affectionate 
teacher. Extract from the Belfast News Letter, dated Aug. 20, 1S33: 

JOSEPH LANCASTER. 

Twenty years have now pas.sed away since the labors of tliis eminent indi- 
vidual, in the cause of education, were the theme of applause in every part of 
Europe. Kings patronized, and nobles flattered bim. The most distinguished 
persons in the nation, for wisdom and virtue, combined their exertions to give a 
wider diffusion to his plans. The poor pronounced his name in accents of grati- 
tude ; whilst thousands, who constitute the fashion, the wealth, and intellect of 
the British empire, thronged, witii eagerness, to his lectures, and listened with 
delight as he explained the mechanism, and detailed the operations of that stu- 
pendous engine, which he had the merit of inventing, and bringing to perfec- 
tion, for the moral and intellectual improvement of mankind. Where, now, is 
this benefactor of his species .•' In what part of the world has he found a home.'' 
Is he in the enjoyment of health and competence ? Has old age brought with 
it peace of mind,«nd "tr-ops of friends .''" Has he been blessed with ease and 
repose, after a quarter of a century of toil and fatigue ? and is he now placidly 
contemplating the regenerating effects of his unwearied exertions for the beneht 
of his fellow-creatures ? Alas ! these questions are seldom asked, even by those 
who swelled the general chorus of acclamation with which the name of Lancas- 
ter once resounded through the land. In tlie Lirilliant day of his prosperity they 
assisted in the great work to which the energies of his active and benevolent 
mind were unceasingly devoted. But will it not convey a bitter pang to the 
hearts of his admirers and eulogists to be told, that the man who came boldly 
forth from his native security, and, in the midst of difficulty, misrepresentation, 
and reproach, challenged to the combat the enemies of human improvement, 
unloosed the fetters of ignorance, and achieved the deliverance of millions from 
mental bondage, is now an exile in the wilds of America, wrestling with the 
ills of poverty, and struggling to maintain a wife and family out of the scanty 
produce of his daily labor? If the observation of an ancient philosopher be cor- 
rect, that to escape misfortune is to want instruction, and that to live at ease is 
to live in ignorance, the last eighteen years of poor Lancaster's chequered life 
should have brought with them stores of useful knowledge. During that period 
of adversity and neglect, he has " eaten of the bread of sorrow, and drunk of 
the waters of bitterness." Without the means of living in his native country, 

4 



•26 

where liis usefulness ia attested l)y ilionsands of schools wliich uie conseciated 
by his name, he has found a refuge, though not an ample maintenance, in a 
nation which is justly characterized as being the honie of the exile, and the 
residence of the free. He is no longer animated by the smiles of loyalty, nor 
elated by the applause of aristocratic patrons ; his earliest companions have, 
long since, ceased to encourage and support iiim, and there are some false friends 
who abandoned him in the hour of necessity : 

" As faithless leaves drop from the o'er-blown flower, 
And leave behind them a long blighted stalk, 
To wither and to die 1" 

The question has been frequently asked, has not Mr. Lancaster been the 
author of his own misfortunes.'' On some occasions great pains have been taken 
to exaggerate and expose his most venial errors. Like other celebrated men, 
he has discharged the penalty of being raised above his fellows to a lofty and 
splendid distinction. He has been the victim of extravagant praise and illiberal 
censure. Mediocrity may be fortunate enough to escape the severity of envious 
or unjust criticism ; but it is the destiny of great excellence to be watched, 
ridiculed, and abused. The immortal Byron must have felt the following lines 
when he penned them : 

" Hard is his fate, on whom the public gaze 
Is fixed forever to detract or praise ; 
And folly loves the martyrdom of Fame." 

That the subject of this address is without faults, no one has been absurd 
enough to affirm. He may have been dazzled by the glittering pinnacles of 
fame ; he may have been, sometimes, overheated by the sunshine of prosperity 
His conversation may not have been free from egotism, nor his actions from 
vanity ; and, possessing, as he does, a heart full of love, and benevolence, and 
charity, it is perhaps true, that his generosity has never been regulated by 
maxims of prudence, — that he never calculated by liow small a sum a vast 
amount of good may be effected, — and that, disdaining all selfish principle and 
private gain, he has been liberal without economy, and generous without calcu- 
lation. But these, and even other blemishes of a graver character, could they 
be justly imputed to him, should be treated with lenity, from a grateful recol- 
lection of the incalculable and lasting services he has rendered to society. 
Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen, will not disgrace their character, by 
receiving the benefit of this celebrated man's labors, and permitting the bene- 
factor to sink into the grave, bowed down with penury, sorrow, and neglect. 
They will remember with gratitude, his ardent spirit — his dauntless perseve- 
rance — his noble disregard of personal aggrandizement — his disdain of opposi- 
tion and difficulty — his unsubdued energy and intrepidity of mind — and, above 
all, his unbounded philanthropy, which, in its efli"orts for the regeneration of 
mankind, stretched beyond the narrow limits of sects and parlfes, and embraced, 
within its comprehensive range, the ignorant of eveiy religion, every country, 
and every clime. 

It is gratifying to learn, that a number of benevolent friends, in England, 
have commenced a liberal subscription, for the purpose of raising an annuity 
for his life, sufficient in amount to maintain him in comfort and respectability, 
and to enable him to procure for his children that education which he has been 
the instrument, in the hands of a wise and merciful Providence, of providing 
for so many millions of his fellow creatures. It is proposed, also, to apply to 
Government for a grant of land in Canada, on which his family may be sup- 
ported. It would be honorable to the present Ministry were they to recommend 
to Parliament to bestow upon the Apostle of Education a moderate pension . 
When so large a portion of the revenues of the State is lavished to support 
salaried indolence, and to keep up places without duties attached to them, surely 
a small sum would be judiciously appropriated, as an acknowledgment to the 
man to whom posterity owes a debt of gratitude. 

" As Heaven, in Jenner, breathed a power to save 
The ' little children' from an early grave ; 
It sent a Teacher, zealous for his kind. 



27 

To exalt the poor, and raise the lowly niiiid 

Of nature mild, — in nought but virtue bold, 

And fornn'd in charity's coiriplelest mould : 

To rear the good, — tlie summit of his fame ! 

His home, the School — and Lancaster his name 1 ' 

Tiie object of this appeal is to direct the attention of the benevolent inhabit- 
ants of Belfast to what is now doing in various parts of the sister kingdom, for 
the relief of Joseph Lancaster, and to solicit their prompt co-operation. It is a 
cause in which men of every religious communion, and all political parties can 
cordially unite. Every feeling of justice and benevolence should prompt some of 
our townsmen to step forth, and form themselves into a Committee, to assist in 
its promotion. Gratitude has induced the writer of these remarks to give them 
publicity. He was once tlie favored pupil — the confidential agent — and the at- 
tached friend of Mr. Lancaster. For many years he was the object of his 
affectionate solicitude and benevolence. Under his hospitable roof he spent 
the happiest part of his early days, and from his lips he received many valuable 
lessons in morality and religion. " When but a fragile blossom, he plucked him 
tj-om the parent stem, and engrafted him upon his own heart." The disin- 
terested friend, and enlightened instructor of his youth, he can never forget. 
In his prosperity he has shared, and he sympathizes with him in his misfor- 
tunes. The highest pleasure he can now enjoy would be in co-operating with 
those who have the means, and, he trusts, the inclination, to render happy, 
prosperous, and contented, the declining years of a man, whose name will be 
for ever associated with the honored few, who have advanced the land-marks 
of knowledge, and contributed to the happiness of the human species. 

MAURICE CROSS. 

Joseph Lancaster. — Under this title a letter appears in the J\i'cws Letter of 
this day, to which we direct public attention, and in the object of which we 
heartily coincide. It is needless for us to enlarge on a subject which M. C. has 
treated so well, and we therefore conclude by expressing a hope, that in Belfast 
something will be done to relievo the embarrassments of a man who has deser- 
ved so well of the community, and to whose benevolent labors it may, without 
exaggeration, be said, that human nature itself is indebted. — Editorial remark. 

The committee has been foriiieJ, and a subscription is going on In 
Belfast ; and in aid of the annuity the British press teems with feeling 
appeals, made spontaneously on J. L's behalf, without his knowledge, 
and all bespeaking a lively interest for his future relief and happiness. 

From the New-Haven (Conn. U. S.) Morning Register, December 18, 1833. 

Mr. Lancaster.— We would call the attention of our readers to the touching 
appeal of Mr. Lovell to the public, in behalf of his old friend and instructor, 
Mr. Lancaster, who has done more for the cause of general education than any 
other man. The world owes a debt of gratitude to this gentleman which money 
can never repay. Mr. L. like many other public benefactors, who have been 
the means of imparting knowledge, and honor, and riches, and comfort, to 
thousands, is himself poor. Let justice, humanity, Christianity, and patriotism, 
forbid that such a man should want. Especially, let the citizens of New-Haven, 
who know how to appreciate the benefits of his system of education, shov« 
their faith by their good works. — Editorial remark. 

JOSEPH LANCASTER. 

lo the Editors of the Morning Register. 

Gentlemen, — It has already been intimated to the citizens of New-Haven, 
through the papers, that Joseph Lancaster, founder of the Lancasterian System 
of education, is at this time in a condition of extreme indigence. Want, indeed, 
has hung about his path, in a greater or less degree, for many years, and occa- 
sionally, through the whole period of his extraordinary career. The dignified 
pride which has striven so long to conceal this humiliating fact, has at length 
Dent to circumstances, and the touching and irresistible case of this great ben- 
efactor, is fully before the British public. It is gratify mg to know that the sub- 



28 

ject Iws not been suffered to slumber in tlieir huiida. Tbe spirit tliat could so 
eulogize his unexampled labors, in the brilliant day of his well-earned populari- 
ty, — when poets and orators were eloquent in his praise, and even majesty itselt' 
delighted to do him honor, — will not, cannot, now, when the dark and trying 
hour of adversity is over him, — now, in his old age, fail to furnish, though late, 
that generous assistance which he so peculiarly needs, and so richly deserves. 
A beautiful lithographic circular has been widely disseminated over the three 
kingdoms, unknown to the individual in whose behalf it has been made : and 
the " national blot, that Joseph Lancaster is in leant," will certainly be eradicated. 
The objects proposed in this circular, are, first, " by a liberal subscription, to 
raise an annuity for his life, sufficient in amount to maintain him respectably, 
and to enable him to procure for his own children that educatjon, which he has, 
under Providence, been the instrument of providing for multitudes;" and sec- 
ond, to apply to government for a grant of land in Canada, on which his family 
maybe supported." Now, I honor the liberal hearts which dictated these mea- 
sures; they are worthy of all admiration ; but it isquiteevident, however prompt 
may be the answering benevolence of his far off countrymen, that great delay 
must necessarily ensue, ere "slow-footed time" brings the so much needed cha- 
rity; and in the bleak inteival, the sufl'ering philanthropist is left to his destiny. 
The long dreary winter approaches, — the season when, more than at any other 
time, poverty feels how keen is its own wretchedness, — the season when fuel 
and comfortable apparel are scarcely less necessary to mere existence, than food 
itself. Joseph Lancaster's is a case, not of comparative but of absolute destitution. 
And shall this man, this veteran champion in the cause of human happiness, 
whose good deeds " plead like angels trumpet-tongued," shall he, I ask it with a 
pang, shall he be doomed, in the venerable period of "white hairs," to all the in- 
supportable hardships of this pitiless season .-' Humanity forbid ! Panegyric, in the 
days of his pros])erity, delighted to style him " the friend of man," the " apostle 
of education," the " benefactor of the human family ;" but oh I mockery, if these 
exalted designations are .synonymous only with neglect, want and ingratitude. 

To relieve ihe. present necessities, then, of this meritorious individual, it liaa 
been deemed t delicate course, both as regards himself and the community, to 
procure subscriptions to a work which he is prepared to publish, entitled " Im- 
provements ill Education." A work of this nature, from the pen of an individual 
so singularly qualified, both by experience and the native bias of his gifted mind, 
could hardly fail to be acceptable to the public. As a matter of course, it must 
prove highly interesting and highly useful. It is to embody a particular and prac- 
tical account of experiments made at Montreal, during the last four years of his 
eventful life, surprising in tlieir results, and of decided importance to the advance- 
ment of the noble cause of universal education. The price of the work is to be 
$1, payable, of course, in advance. It has been handsomely countenanced in 
Montreal and Quebec, by Sir James Kempt, Lord Aylmer, Chief Justice Sew- 
ell, Chief Justice Reed, the Attorney and Solicitor Generals, a numbei' of mem- 
bers of both houses of the Legislature, and many of the most honorable merchants 
of Lower Canada, In New-York an effort is just making, patronized by his Ho- 
nor the Mayor, who has subscribed for twenty copies. Several other gentlemen 
have also subscribed for twenty copies each, and others for a smaller number. 
To promote this subscription is the chief object of these remarks, and I gratify 
myself with the animating belief, that an appeal to the well known benevolence 
of this enlightened and liberal community, ever prompt to respond to the moving 
calls of suffering humanity, will not be made in vain. A case of greater moral 
worth, or more exalted associations, could hardly be presented to a literary and 
Christian people. It addresses itself indeed, in the most eloquent considerations, 
to every charitable breast, and should not fail to elicit a large degree of that di- 
vine sympathy which teaches us not only " to feel," batrelieve " another's woes." 
Like Mercy, 



-" It is twice bless'd : 



It blosseth him that gives and him that takes." 

Commencing with the period of mere boyhood, the whole life, ialents and mo- 
ney of this illustrious individual, have been devoted with the most disinterested 
and god-like zeal and perseverance to the highest interests of his fellow men. 



29 

The stupendous etlecls are well known, and are felt lo the leuiotest cortiers of 
the earth. The whole world has been his theatre ((faclion. He has dispensed 
a light over its mental and moral hemispheres, more glorious than that of the sun. 
The rich and the powerful have gazed in wonder, and the poor and helpless have 
felt to their hearts, the genial influences of his heaven-like labors. Who can cal- 
culate the invaluable results ? None. Myriads yet unborn will have cause to 
bless his venerated name, and the Genius of Biography shall inscribe it on the 
same resplendent tablet with that of the immortal Howard. 

" Honored the man, and deathless be his name, 
Whose schools now rise his monuments of fame ; 
~» Marble may moulder that his worth may trace, 

But these revered, shall live from race to race." 

Slander, malice, and envy, have been very busy with the "good name" of this 
celebrated philanthropist, — but impoisoned shafts are ever aimed at superior ex- 
cellence False friendship, loo, " has well played its treacherous part," and black 
ingratitude, " worse than the sin of witchcraft." Interested malignity has wicked- 
ly discolored his conduct, and artfully given to liis noble benevolence, the char- 
acter o\' extravagance. But the imputation is false, false as the subtle hearts which 
coined it. It cannot be denied, perhaps, that possessing as he does, a heart full 
of the "milk of human kindness," he may have been generous beyond his 
ability. If this is a vice, it is still so like to virtue, we can but admire it. But 
the charge of personal extravagance, is entirely out of the question. I look 
back, through a most intimate acquaintance of more than ticenty years, during a 
greater part of which time, both his private and public conduct were ever Be- 
fore my obseivation, and I conscientiously declare, I search in vain for a solitary 
instance on which to rest this wicked and slanderous aspersion. " Be thou as 
pure as ice, as chaste as snow, thou shah not escape calumny." 

In coming before the respected citizens of New-Haven, on thissubjectj so in- 
teresting to my feelings, I am merely discharging a debt of just gratitude. And 
I thank that benign Providence which gave me this generous friend of my child- 
hood, that I am one of the few of the hundreds of young men whom he has 
brought up, (those sunshine friends,) who esteem it a privilege, in this his dark 
hour of human sorrow, to assert his exalted claims to public beneficence. It 
will be among the brightest and happiest reflections of my life, if I shall have 
reason to believe that I have been the humble instrument, by this act, of contri- 
buting in the slightest degree, to " lay his old age upon the lap of ease." 

J. E. LOVELL. 
Nevs'-Haven, Dec. 10, 1833. 

After perusing the two articles, written and published without his 
seeing a word of either, by John E. Lovell and Maurice Cross, J. 
Lancaster cannot take up the language used by King James 2d, when 
his son and daughter-in-law deserted him, — •" God help me, my own 
children have forsaken me." 

Some expressions, high toned and superlative, from the warm hearts 
of sympathizing and affectionate pupils, may be found in these letters. 
Far be it from me to encourage feelings or expressions of human adula- 
tion, but I can allow much for the peculiar feelings and sympathy 
which call them forth. In regard to i\\& facts they are intended to im- 
ply, he gives an answer which he made to the King and Queen of Eng- 
land, in 1805, when an expression of admiration, that his mind " must 
be very pure," burst forth from the Queen. " If there is any purity in 
my mind, it is because I have been in the furnace of affliction, and like 
gold refined from my dross ; but I fear I must go in again, many times, 
before I am as pure as I ovght to be." 

From this collection of documents, from this selection of teslin*ionials, 
J. Lancaster hopes he may prove, if his claims need proof, that he has 
chiefly lived for mankind, and that he has not altogether lived in vain. 



30 

He may hope that whatever may have been his faults, and he is far 
from pleading exemption from human errors, or making an idle excuse, 
those who have long loved and respected him for his work's sake, will 
not think this the hour to call them to judgment. He feels that he has 
trod in a new and untried path. He had no friend of greater experience 
than himself, to guide his way in the unexplored forest of humanity, 
which he has traversed, and in which he has raised a beaten path and ap- 
proved road. That he. should have much to lament, as well as much 
to rejoice in, is but the common lot of humanity, and will, he trusts, 
not be allowed to shut up any heart fiom merited sympathy, or with- 
hold any hand from liberal assistance which he shall never have occasion 
to ask or seek ao-ain. 



Testimonials in favor of the Lancasterian System of Education, and 
in respect of its Founder. 

Extracts from letters of William Vincent, D. D., Dean of Westminster, 
and a long lime Principal Teacher of Westminster Classical School, Nov. 
19, irsOl. — " Your plan has ray most cordial approbation." July 28, 1811, 
" I have approved your labors from the begiuniug, and approve them still. 
Your plan is excellent, and I have ever been an advocate, both in my pri- 
vate judgment and in the pulpit, for instructing the whole body of the 
people. I admit that your proposal to mo ought to silence all (that you 
call) persecution; but if I road you right, persecution will neither check 
you, nor impede the progress of your plans." 

Extract of a letter from the celebrated Earl Stanhope, the friend of the 
American Fulton, Angust 23, 1805. — I return thee many tlianks for thy 
kindness in sending me the good news, which gives me the most sincere 
pleasure, as thou must well know. 1 hope thou wilt be spared by Almighty 
God, to execute and perform that excellent work for man, for which no 
doubt thou art intended. Believe nie ever thy sincere friend." Signed 
"• Stanhope." The good news here meant was the approbation of George 
the Third, who wished every man in his dominions to be able to read his 
bible. Earl Stanhope always used the singular number in his letters to 
Joseph Lancaster. 

Extract of a letter from John Foster, (Lord Oriel, since deceased,) Chan- 
cellor of the Exchequer for Leland,to J. Lancaster, dated Collon, Ireland, 
1804. — " Sir, I am very thankful for the letter and enclosure you have sent 
mo. The pamphlet has given me more satisfaction than any pamphlet I 
ever read, or any conversation I ever had on the subject ; and a most im- 
portant one it is to this island, where we must look to the slow effect of 
education upon the present young generation, for securing internal tran- 
quillity, industry and happiness. I will thankfully receive every sugges- 
tion you can give for expediting and efiecting your patriotic wishes for this 
kingdom." Signed ■•' John Foster." 

Letter from Lindley Murray, (by birth an American) author of the 
English Grammar, and other unrivalled school books, to Joseph Lancas- 
ter. — " It is with pleasure that I perceive, that Joseph Lancaster's plan of 
education is to be extended to Ireland. This is a soil which demands cul- 
tivation, and for which his method of teaching will doubtless be well adapt- 
ed. I sincerely hope that he will meet with the success which his inge- 
nuity and industry merit ; and that through life and to the evening of his 
days, he may have the heartfelt satisfaction which springs from good and 
useful measures, pursued with the purest and most benevolent viewti.— 
York, 10th of 2d mo. 1807. ' Signed " Lindley Murray,' 



31 

Exfracl from tlie original copy of a Lecture on tidueation, given at tiia 
Royal Institution, London, before an audience of the first rank and cliai- 
acter, by Sydney Binitli, a clery-ynian, and writer in tlie Edinburgh Re- 
view. — " I have no scruple to say, that Mr. Lancaster is fairly entitled to 
the merit of discovery ; tliat the progress made by children under his caro 
is perfectly astonisliing ; and that the spectacle he exhibits of what can be 
done in education, is to the eye the most beautiful, to the heart the most 
moving-, and to the reason tiie most consolatory spectacle, that it has ever 
fallen to my lot to witness in the whole course of my existence." 

Extract from the speech of Samuel Whitbread, M. P. in the English 
House of Commons, 20lh of 2d month, February, 1807, on education. — 
" This system was the discovery of a Mr. Lancaster, who was entitled 
not only to the thanks of this, but every country, for the labor with which 
he had endeavored to perfect and introduce it. This system, the cheapest, 
the easiest acquired, the most general and beneficial in its eflects, which 
human ingenuity had ever devised, he trusted he should see flourish, not- 
withstanding the illiberal opposition, and the base prejudices, which had 
been, for what reason he was at a loss to discover, so artfully excited 
against it." Traveler, London Newspaper. 

Extract of a letter from the late Edward Simeon, Esq. (a director of 
the Bank of England,) who established, in co-operation with Earl Spencer, 
a Lancasterian School in the Isle of Wight. — " It was highly gratifying 
to me to hear your lecture on Wednesday evening. It is impossible to 
contemplate your Herculean undertaking without emotions of admiration 
and esteem." Signed •' Edward Simeon." This gentleman was brother 
of the eminent Charles Simeon, of Cambridge University, England. 

Extract of a letter from Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. M. P. and Banker 
of London. — " As a friend to general education, I shall always be happy 
to give my support to the meritorious exertions of Mr. Lancaster, and his 
representatives are welcome to make use of my name, in any manner 
they may think proper, if the name of so humble an individual can be of 
any service to the system." 20th Feb. 1812. 

The Duke of Bedford not only established a school at Wooburn, but 
placed his own children under care of the teacher. The following letter 
from the Duke relates to the fact: — " Dear Sir, I have to acknowledge 
the receipt of your letter of the 14th inst. The schoolmaster has al- 
ready commenced the tuition of my children, I request you will therefore 
send the necessary books to Wooburn Abbey without delay. I hope we 
shall soon be able to establish a girls' school at Wooburn, and remain your 
sincere friend." Signed " Bedford. October 17, liJ09." 

Extract of a letter from Lord Erskine to Joseph Lancaster, dated May 
11, 1811. — " I shall be at all times ready to express the sense 1 have of 
the vast utility of your system of education, and the great claims you 
have upon the favor and support of the public." 

Extract of a letter from Henry Bathurst (brother of Earl Bathurst) the 
present Bishop of Norwich, to Joseph Lancaster, 1811. — " You have a 
claim to the regard of every man who has at heart either the present or 
future happiness of his fellow creatures. Should it be in my power to re- 
commend you or be likely to forward your plans, I will neglect no oppor- 
tunity of doing it." Signed '' H. Norwich." 

Extract of a letter from Francis Wrangharn, F. R. S. now Archdeacon 
Wrangham. — "Mr. L. knows that in me, though a clergyman, he has a 
sincere well wisher, who thinks the nation indebted to him for his unpar- 
alleled and most beneficial activity." Signed " Francis Wrangham." This 
gentleman is critical editor of Langhorne's Plutarch. 
Extract of a letter from the late Francis Horner, M P to Joseph 



32 

Lancaster, on cleiical opposition. — " NdtvvilliBtamliiig the want orcnnJor 
and justice in tlie manner, in tlie end all the good will be ascribed to you, 
ils original author. Do not be afraid but that the whole public will ulti- 
mately be just ; I look upon it as the crowning victory of all your labors, 
that you have roused the clergy of the established church to take meas- 
ures for education." 

" Sheffield, Yorkshire, 1820. We are happy to affirm, that the useful 
system practiced in the Lancasterian schools is growing in the esteem of 
all who delight in liberality of principles." — Report of the Sheffield Lan- 
casterian School, believed to be from the pen of Montgomery, the poet, 
as Secretary. 

E.xlract from the summary of an article written by Henry Brougham, 
M. P. now Lord Chancellor of England, which appeared November, 1810, 
on the subject of education. — " That the new system of education is cal- 
culated to promote the cheap, rapid and easy diffusion of knowledge, in an 
unprecedented degree, and that the merit of devising it belongs to Joseph 
Lancaster." — Edinburgh Review. 

Extract of a letter from Professor Dugald Stuart to Joseph Lancaster, 
Edinburgh, 25th Feb. 1807. — " Accept of my best thanks for the inform- 
ation I have already received from your writings, and be assured that 
none of your numerous friends can have a deeper sense than myself", of 
the extent and value of the services wiiich you are now rendering to the 
public, by your exertions in behalf of the rising generation." Signed 
" Dugald Stuart." 

Extract of a letter from Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal 
Society of London, to Joseph Lancaster. — "lam glad to see by your 
printed letter, received yesterday, that your most useful plan for extend- 
ing the blessings of education, have been still further improved by you 
since I last saw you, and that you intend to publish another edition of 
your explanation of it." Signed "Joseph Banks, Soho Square, February 
6,1805." 

Copy of an Address presented to Joseph Lancaster, by the trustees of 
the Lancaster School, Albany, soon after his landing at New-York, 1818. 
— "To Mr. Lancaster, Sir, The Trustees of the Albany Lancaster School 
Society, avail themselves of your unexpected appearance in this quarter 
of the world, to show you a young scion from that tree which you have 
planted, which is rapidly spreading its branches over every region, and 
imparting its blessed fruit to every nation. You, sir, have devised, ma- 
tured and brought into universal practice, a system of education, by 
which the knowledge of letters, science, morality and religion, can with 
comparatively little effort and expense, be communicated to millions of 
juvenile minds, who by the ordinary established means of education would 
not have become partakers of its invaluable benefits. Accept, Sir, this 
tribute of our respect, which we tender to you as one of those rare bene- 
factors of mankind, whose services merit such peculiar public acknowledg- 
ments as cannot be withheld without incurring the justly deserved impu- 
tation of public ingratitude." Signed "Simeon De Witt, Vice President." 
In the year 1808, Joseph Lancaster lectured in the Town Hall of the 
University of Cambridge, in England. Dr. Ramsden, Deputy Regius 
Professor of Theology, was in the chair, and the company present — Re- 
solved on the establishment of a Lancasterian Scliool — and " that the 
thanks of this meeting be given to Mr. Lancaster for his instructive 
lecture." 

Extract from the Speech of General the Marquis La Fayette, in the 
Legislative Chamber, France. — "Now. Gentlemen, the Lancasterian 
System is, since the invention of printing, the greatest step which has 
been made for the extension of prompt, easy and popular instruction." 



33 

Speech of De Witt Uliiilonj on opening the enlarged free school at 
New-York, 1810. — " 1 confess that I recognize in Lancaster the benefac- 
tor of the human race. I consider his system as creating a new era in 
education, as a blessing sent down from heaven to redeem the poor and 
distressed of this world from the power and dominion of ignorance. Al- 
though tlie merits of this apostle of benevolence, liave been generally 
acknowledged in liis own country, and he has received the conntenance 
and protection of the best men in Great Britain, yet calumny has lifted 
up her voice against him, and attempts have been made to rob him of his 
laurels." 

Extract from the Message of De Witt Clinton, Governor of New- 
York, to the Legislature of that State, IBlfi- — " Having participated in 
the first establishment of the Lancasterian System in this country ; hav- 
ing' carefully observed its progress and witnessed its benefits, I can confi- 
dently recommend it as an invaluable improvement, which, by a wonder- 
ful combination in expense and rapidity of instruction, has created a new 
era in education. The system operates with the same efficacy in educa- 
tion as labor-saving machinery does in the useful arts." 

Extract of an Address delivered by President Nott, to the Students of 
Union College, State of New-York, July 11, lull. "Where is Lancaster, 
who has introduced, and is introducing a new era in education.-"' &c. &c. 
Extract of an Oration delivered before the Washington Society, of 
Alexandria, by David HolTman, now Law Professor of the University of 
Maryland, 27th of February, 1B13. — " Among these excellent inventions, 
none so immediately claims our grateful notice, as that admirable system 
of practical education invented and introduced by Joseph Lancaster. 
This invention may with strict propriety be considered as the most il- 
lustrious epoch in the history of the advancement of human intellect." 

Extract of a letter from John Adams, late President of the United 
States of America, to a gentleman of Cambridge University, Massachu- 
setts. — " I have heard friend Lancaster with pleasure : he is an excellent 
scholastic and academic disciplinarian. He forms his companies and teaches 
them all his tactics with masterly skill : all this by the simple action of that 
main spring of human nature, emulation. I was really delighted and en- 
lightened by that lecture."* Signed " John Adams." 

King George the third. — " I will do any thing you please to promote 
your plans." Weymouth, 1805. 

King George the fourth. — " We have supported you, and we will sup- 
port you ; and after all, the most we can do is to second your good inten- 
tions. You are doing more good than any man alive." Carlton house, 
1811. This was said when in royal robes, proceeding on his way to the 
Privy Council Chamber, at the head of his ministry, and the nobles of the 
land, all arrayed in robes of state. This public audience, like that of his 
father, originated from the chief personages in each instance. 

The King of France has distinguished himself as an advocate and bene- 
factor of the system. The donations of the royal family of England 
amount to several thousand pounds, during twenty-eight years. Those 
of the Duke of Bedford alone are above 2000 pounds. 

Were testimonials as needful to convince an inquiring world, as they 
may be to inform a young and rising generation, of the high opinions of 
the first men of all ranks, classes, countries and political opinions ; re- 

* A Lecture delivered in the parish church of Q,uincy, which the Ex-President 
honored with his company. 

5 



34 

suiting from national and universal usefulness, entire sheets might be 
devoted to the object. But the shouts of cities, the freedom of corpora- 
tions, the compliments of royalty, the nominal " thanks of his country and 
gratitude of the whole world," may have cheered him in the hour of 
arduous exertion, — may have reflected the recollection of joy over the 
hour of gloomy darkness, but have never fed him or his family, and 
have operated only as " be ye warmed" to the cold, or " be ye clothed" 
to the destitute, without furnishing the fire, food, or clothing. 

All pictures need light and shade to show forth the objects they 
were intended to represent. " Look out," said a friend thirty years 
ago to Joseph Lancaster, " look out for a rainy day ;" — an observation 
which produced a smile from another friend then present, who knew 
that the head was anointed and the face washed, but the heart of Jo- 
seph Lancaster was surrounded with stormy sorrows, and his soul clo- 
thed in .sackcloth and ashes. Thus it has been with a world who look 
only at such praises and approbation as the preceding. They think it 
all joy, when it has often been the reverse. 

When Joseph Lancaster had made those lecturing " progresses" over 
the nation, as Lord Brougham lately termed them, in a speech in the 
Parliament, and returned home to his dwelling, his food was at the 
table with the orphan and youthful teachers. He never had a personal 
servant. He was destitute of every luxury, and his sole happiness lay 
with his schools and his adopted children, and while he had a loaf, he 
divided it with them to the very last. This mode of life he adhered to 
both in London and Caracas. He went to no dinner parties, neither 
invited or visited the parties of his friends. When he had occasion, he 
called upon them for an hour, as duty or affection might command ; but 
his dwelling place was in the hearts and society of those whom he felt for 
as his offspring, and many of whom have not yet forgotten to call him 
father. 

At a public meeting in London, at which the Duke of Kent presided, 
in 1810, Joseph Lancaster expressed his acknowledgments, and stated 
that to promote his system " he should be at all times ready to contribute 
his personal labor, and that when the system was established through- 
out the British empire, he should be ready to go to the remotest corner 
of the world, to contribute still to the extension of its benefits." This 
has been fulfilled ; for in the United States, South America, and Can- 
ada, &c., he has now spent fifteen years. The following documents 
respecting transactions in Colombia, prove that " all is not gold that 
glitters," and that truth and good faith are one thing, when empty 
praise and abundant compliment happen to be quite the reverse. 

The praises of man, and especially of the wise and good, have their 
effect as well as their worth ; but in the hour of sickness, loss, and 
affliction, the human mind needs something far superior to all secondary 
things for support. Unless He that sees in secret and rewardeth open- 
ly, had been 3. Lancaster's help and preservation, he would not only 
have sustained loss in Colombia, but there have found his grave. For 
even his wife, harmless and unoffending, did not escape the ruffian 
hands of personal assault aud violence, to the danger of her life. 



35 

South American Transactions. 

Bolivar's unpaid bill of exchange, for $20,000, protested, returned, 
and noio unpaid, $22,400. 

(NO. 1.) 

'Letter from General Bolivar to Joseph Lancaster. 

TO MR. LANCASTER. 

Lima, March 16, 1825. 

My Dear Sir, — I have had the honor to receive your very flattering 
letter from Baltimore, the answer to which was directed to the United 
States of America by a circuitous route, whicli would considerably de- 
lay your receipt of it. 1 have now the greatest pleasure in learning by 
your favor from Caracas, the determination you have formed, of residing 
amongst us, with the laudable object of disseminating, and bringing to 
perfection, the Lancasterian system of education, which has done, and 
will continue to do, essential service in promoting the cultivation of the 
intellect : a wonderful work which we owe to the singular genius of the 
man who has had the goodness to devote himself to the instruction of 
my young fellow citizens ! 

You seem (o think {\) assistance necessary to the realization of your 
beneficent intentions : I therefore hasten to q/fer you twenty thou?and 
dollars, to be employed in advancing the education of the children of 
Caracas. These twenty thousand dollars will be paid to you in London 
by the agents of Peru, on whom you may draw for this sum in three or 
four months. The said agents have orders to pay the amount to whoever 
you may direct to receive it. In case it should not be your wish (2) to 
employ the entire siwi in London, you may easily cause the remainder of 
it to be transmitted to Caracas. 

I have further to add, that I will with pleasure advance you a larger 
sum with the like view, should you think that it can be usefully employed. 
To enable me to comply with this ofTer, be pleased to communicate to me 
your opinion, in such terms as you may think Jit. (3) 

The government of Peru has been to me most generous in a thousand 
ways, and has moreover placed at my disposal a million of dollars for the 
service of the Colombians. Public education will receive my first at- 
tention in the distribution of this sum. For this reason it is no incon- 
venience to me, to promote the advancement of those establishments for 
education which are under the direction of your fine genius. 

Receive the expression of my admiration, my respect, and my gratitude, 
for the preference you have given to my native country, by establishing 
yourself therein. 

I am your most affectionate, and attentive servant, 

BOLIVAR. 

In 1810, Bolivar was in London, and saw Joseph Lancaster, and vis- 
ited his school in 1810, promising to send two young men from Car- 
acas, to learn the system under the tuition of its founder. 

In 1824, Joseph Lancaster, at Baltimore, when extremely sick, and 
recovering in a slow and languid manner, met with an officer, an aid 
of Bolivar's. This officer was a veteran in the Colombian service. 



(1) This implies previous correspondence, and (2) alludes to J. Lancaster's 
designs to make certain purchases, of which Bolivar was ah-eady informed, and 
wiiicli he left solely to J, L's. discretion. (3) Is a perfect cakte blanchk. 



36 

In the common sympathies of countrymen, a conversation took place, 
and when the officer understood that J. Lancaster intended to go to 
the south of France, as advised by his European friends, for the recov- 
ery of his health, he recommended him to go to the fine climate of 
Caracas for the same purpose, and promised to prepare his way, which 
he did, by taking the letter alluded to by Bolivar, in the second line of 
his letter, which was duly forwarded, but no reply came to hand. 

J. L., on his arrival at Caracas, where he was specially invited by 
the municipality, on public behalf, wrote again to Bolivar. This nriarks 
strongly the fact that Bolivar was clearly well informed from the first, 
that J. Lancaster v/as at that time neither willing nor able to make any 
pecuniary sacrifices for the people, and that he reasonably and justly 
expected such assistance as would carrry him through his great work 
free and clear of all loss or expense. 

In about a month after date of No. 1, Bolivar drew three copies of a 
bill of exchange, for $20,000, and forwarded him with his own hand. 
They were sent to England, and remained there unpaid when J. Lan- 
caster left Colombia. 

Correspondence on a large scale had taken place between Joseph 
Lancaster and General Bolivar ; and J. Lancaster not only retains 
copies of the documents, but absolutely published at Caracas the outline 
of the plans on which he was acting, in Spanish and English. 

Letter from General Bolivar to Mr. Lancaster. 

Lima, 7th of April,* 1826. 
My ESTEEMED SiR, — On my arrival in this capital, I had the satisfac- 
«!tion to receive two letters from you, written in the month of June and 
August of last year. It is highly flattering to me to learn that the in- 
terest you take in the education of tha Colombian youth, increases daily; 
and I have perused with great pleasure,] the propositions which yon have 
made to me, with the laudable object of extendingX the establishment of 
the schools of mutual instruction under your charge, and which confer 
such honor on the genius that invented them. 

I would inimediatcly transmit you a sum of money adequate to the be- 
neficent improvernents you suggest; but the present st.Ue of the Peru- 
vian treasnry, whilst recompensing its liberators, does not permit me to com- 
ply with the generous views of Congress, in having appropriated a mil- 
lion of dollars to works of public beneficence. 

I am vour attentive servant, 

BOLIVAR. 

The following letter shows the impression made on the mind of De 
Witt Clinton from Bolivar's letters, which were published by desire of 
the local Intendant of Caracas. 

" x'\i.BAisY, Sept. 26, ir!25. 

" Sir, — I received your two letters from Caracas ; and I am rejoiced to 

* The reader will observe, that this is dated near thirteen months after the 
first letter. 

t The terms are stronger in the original : " co7i infinito inter es," " with infinite 
interest," — not common approbation, but delight. 

X These extensions were designed for general and not merely local purposes as 
to Caracas; and these transactions and propositions were thus decidedly ap- 
proved and sanctioned by Bolivars own hand 



37 

learn that your establishment of yo\ir invaluable Bysteni of tidiication, ic'</7 
be profitable to you, and usefnl to our brethren of South America. Yon 
have rendered important benefits to mankind; and I hope yon will jiursne 
yonr distinguished career to a glorious conclusion, by improving the niindr; 
of the rising generation in that region, and educating them for free gov- 
ernment and eminent usefulness. 

"The conduct of Bolivar, the Liberator, to you, is munificent. Every 
step he takes, elevates iiim still higher in the public opinion of this 
country.* 

" Go on, my friend, and prosper. In sowing the seeds of education, you 
disseminate virtue, and fit men for liberty and social order. You have 
my best wishes; and any thing I can do for you individually, or for the 
great cause in which you are engaged, shall be cheerfully done. 

" I remain your frend, 

" DE WITT CLINTON. 

" J. Lancaster, Esq. Caracas." 

Near twelve months after this date, Bolivar, with his staff, was in 
Caracas, and repeatedly received Joseph Lancaster in person, his pro- 
fessors, his monitors, and large divisions of his scholars. He saw 
them once when they went out in public body, to welcome him into his 
native city. He admitted his whole saloon to be filled with them, and 
received them with many compliments and fine speeches ; and received 
from their hands, presents of a number of valuable school books in va- 
rious departments of art and science, the best and first ever seen in Co- 
lombia, and for which all the world who read and speak Spanish, are 
solely indebted to that patriotic friend of science, R. Ackerman, Esq. 
of the Strand, London ; and on all these things Bolivar bestowed th^ 
highest and fullest approbation. 

Bolivar afterwards visited J. Lancaster at his own dwelling, and pre- 
sided at his marriage. He previously inspected the several rooms filled 
with books, instruments of art and science, a complete philosophical ap- 
paratus, and other materials of instruction. 

At that time, Bolivar, of his own accord, voluntarily made a public 
speech, addressed to the parties and respectable company then assembled; 
and again expressed his voluntary, decided and positive approbation of 
all Joseph Lancaster's measures in the strongest and most explicit terms. 

On the 18th of 4th month, April, 1827, following, as soon as the sun 
was up, Joseph Lancaster was compelled to leave Caracas and the 
country, or do a most dishonest action ! The base, cowardly, and bar- 
barous attacks personally made on his ^ife, by some of Bolivar's own 
friends, were the first cause. She decided that she could not remain 
in that country with safety to life, and that Bolivar's promise of protec- 
tion was nugatory and unavailing. In this J. L. concurred, and they 
claimed their passports. 

The passports were then instantly and actually ordered under Boli- 
var's own hand, and actually and willfully retarded by the very agent who 
was commanded to grant them, who always acted under Bolivar's or- 
ders, and dare not act against them. This is not a new thing in the an- 
nals of Colombia, to give a command with the right hand and break it 



If he had kept his word, it would undoubtedly have had th.it effect. 



38 

with thelelt. Bolivar ' then commandeiV J Lanrasler ' to deliver tip 
whatever property remained on hand'' Yes, he commanded 3 qs&^\\ 
Lancaster to do a dishonest action, at the recollection of which, if this 
dictator, this man of blood, had ever had a particle of shame in his iron 
soul or corrupt heart, his black face would have blushed both red and 
white ! Yes, the Dictator commanded him to give up property for which 
that man never had jidid one farthing ! for which his declaration amoun- 
ted to an intention never to pay ! The political chief is the first 
President of the Cabildo. To him, more than all the miserable proper- 
ty of the Cabildo had already been given ! But now a demand was 
made, not merely for formal accounts — for enough had been rendered, 
said, and shown, to prove that these could never be made to answer a 
tyrant's dishonest purpose — but an imperious mandate for the property 
which Bolivar had seen in Joseph Lancaster's private dwelling ; the 
pictures, maps, books, philosophical instruments, and for drawing, ma- 
thematics, optics, chemistry, electricity, and a library of books for school 
use and selection : things fit for a National Lancasterian University. 

None of these articles were bought in Bolivar's name. No man 
could come to him and say, " Pay this bill, or I commence an action." 
Yet neither having paid any thing, nor professing to pay any thing, he 
demands " whatever property of others remained on hand." The pro- 
perty left behind was delivered to the care of those who had just claims 
on it. The man who superintended the delivery, is now porter to 
one of the New- York banks — a man in trust, and who has always 
acted with honor and honesty. 

* J. Lancaster left the country at the advice of many respectable per- 
sons. Bolivar wanted back his bill for $20,000, and all the property J. 
L. had in Caracas he had also demanded. He said he did not sign as 
Simon Bolivar, but as president of Peru. That it was his official and 
not his personal act ; and that the bill must go to Lima for payment, — 
go, where they had actually expelled his representatives, destroyed his 
government, and annihilated his power. Does this look like honesty, or 
like cheating } The fact was the contrary, and he had even in Caracas 
personally assured Joseph Lancaster that he would never think of paying 
him in part. So far it was true, that he seemed only to think how he 
could avoid paying him at all. It was justly considered by Joseph 
Lancaster's friends, that if he directed Bolivar's bill to be protested and 
his property attached in London, that then there was no safety for his 
life in Caracas. He gave the needful written direction, and was placed 
on board a British ship, where the fangs and talons of a tyrant could have 
no hold on him. He arrived at New-Haven, in the brig Shepherdess 
from St. Croix, in the spring of 1827- The bill was protested as di- 
rected ; and six months after, Bolivar gave another hit of paper in lieu 
of the first : this renewing of an unpaid bill was most singularly report- 
ed as the paying of it. Instead of being, however, the payment of the 
former, it remains its oicn dear beloved self at this time unpaid in Lon- 
don. 

Bogota, 25th Jan. 1829. 
"■Dear Sir, — Tn answer to your inquiry, we have to say, that the drafl of 
120,000 drawn on the Peruvian Commissioners in London, in favor of Mr. 



39 

Joseph Lancaster, not having been paid by them, was sent to lis in Sep- 
tember, 1827, for collection. We presented it ; and Gen, Bolivar imme- 
diately gave us a second draft for the said sum (together with the re-ex- 
change, interest, and cost,) npon Dr. Madrid, to be paid out of the proceeds 
resulting from the sale of the mines which His Excellency had in Aroa. 
We are, Sir, yours, with all sincerity, &c. 

POWLES, YlLLINGWORTH Si, Co." 

There is no doubt that a copy of this letter was published by desire 
of Bolivar, through his secretary. It is therefore official. 

But this giving of a second bill, is a total acknowledgment of Joseph 
Lancaster's total claim to the amount of the former. The amount of 
the renewed bill, protest, exchange, interest and expenses, was 22,400 
dollars. Can any thing in law, justice or equity, unsettle claims thus 
acknowledged. 

The SUM of the whole matter is, that Joseph Lancaster stated, in 
November 1828, I. That he had returned from Colombia poor; 2. 
That he had been unjustly deprived of what he had earned ; 3. That 
the famous bill of exchange given him by Bolivar, and given him with 
the promise that he might dispose of it as he pleased, had continued 
dishonored and unpaid ! 

In proof, he affirms, as to the first allegation. 

First. That when he left Colombia, he brought with him nothing 
but two books, a second coat, and some linen ! With this scanty ward- 
robe he arrived at New-Haven, and has witnesses of the fact. And that 
whatever articles his wife saved, who w^as compelled by savage treatment 
to come away separate from her husband, as the only means left of pre-H 
serving his integrity and his life. She brought nothing with her but her 
own, which was passed through the custom-house in Laguira in open 
day, and with regular examination, twenty days after his leaving Cara- 
cas. The major part of this property was hers before marriage ; and 
much that was valuable of personal property, — generous literary gifts 
from R. Ackerman, Esq. of London, &c. was unavoidably left behind. 
She has the hand-writing of BoLiVAR, as a witness to her marriage 
settlement, settling on her all her property by her first husband, and 
assigning to her Joseph Lancaster's assets and property, " todas cosas," 
" all things" connected with or pertaining to education, then belonging 
to Joseph Lancaster in Caracas. Yet much that was hers was left 
behind. 

All the remaining property possessed by Joseph Lancaster in Cara- 
cas, being bought with money raised on his own private drafts, and 
costing some thousand dollars, was left in the hands of safe, honorable 
and upright men, for the purpose of doing ample justice to all whom 
it might concern, as far as the means could supply. J. Lancaster has 
never received any thing of it since ! 

It is therefore hereby submitted to the impartial mind, whether a man 
who, when he arrived in North America, possessed no property what- 
ever in his own right, and his wife possessing nothing but what she 
holds on Bolivar's signature of assets, mentioned in her marriage deed, 
could be otherwise than poor ? 

Secondly. The salary of $1500 per annum, agreed to be paid by 



40 

the cabildo, amounting in arrears to $3000 salary, besides expenses, 
interest and other claims, (now in all amounting at least to $4500,) 
has been refused, and is still withheld, though on a contract ratified by 
Santander, when formerly Vice President of Colombia, and prior to his 
banishment by Bolivar ; and, therefore, it is hereby submitted to the 
decision of every impartial mind, whether J. Lancaster has not been 
unjustly deprived of his hard-earned money ? 

The letters of Bolivar show on what terms the bill was given ; free, 
and unsolicited as a carte blanche. Is discretional right of application 
to be recalled three years after it has been granted ; — after all his labors 
have been carried on in the midst of a rebellion, and surrounded with 
a murderous soldiery ; and even part of the time a gunpowder maga- 
zine beneath his bedchamber, his location being in a Franciscan monas- 
tery, amidst monks as full of envy and hatred, as national antipathy to 
all foreigners and stubborn ignorance could make them ? 

The THIRD charge made by J. L. is the non-payment of Bolivar's bill. 

The letters of Bolivar show on what terms that bill was given ; and 
the accusing spirits of J. L's enemies never pretended that it was ever 
paid in cash, or in any other way than by a new bill given about six 
months after J. L. had left Caracas. 

Of this rcpoy^ecZ transaction, J. li. has had no advice till 1829 ; but 
supposing it to be true asreported, at the time he published his appeal in 
November 1828, containing the charge made by him, of non-'payment 
of it, he had never heard ! Nor did he know certainly till 1832, wheth- 
er the SECOND bill alledged to have been given in that slovenly shadow 
^Bbf a document, in the names of Powles & Co. Bogota, had been given 
or paid, or not ! Nor has he ever received one cent upon any bill 
drawn or endorsed or negotiated by Bolivar, even at this date, De- 
cember, 1833. 

Where, then, is there any violation of truth in the statements which 
he made in his appeals, or any shadow of a fact to occasion and sup- 
port the statements made in Caracas, or the libels, copied, enlarged, 
and circulated elsewhere .' 

Bolivar is since dead. What was the last report of his will } — that 
the debt due on Joseph Lancaster'' s account should he paid- Has his 
dying wish been complied with } No. Has this dying commandheen 
made since the libelous charges asserted that it was paid ? It has ! 
He did not die till more than twelve months after. Could the living as- 
sertion that it was paid, and the dying direction to pay it, both be true ? 
Unprincipled men cannot pass on to their wishes without forever placing 
themselves in juxta-position with themselves. 

"What a tangled web men weave, 
When the paths of truth they leave !" 

The fact is, Bolivar offered to pay part of the bill, and not the whole ; 
but, finding that he could not succeed in his dishonest purpose, he gave 
the second bill in question, which second bill was refused payment, there 
being no assets. 

The agent of J. L. in London, having a claim for the Institution ac- 
knowledged for a certain amount, agreed to accept payment of his ac- 



41 

count, and ieave J. L. to look lor the remainder wUere he could. — ■ 
This is the old tampering in a new shape. This is a singular mercan- 
tile mode of transacting agency business. Partial payment from ano- 
ther fund, which ought to have attached, has been accepted, for the pay- 
ment of his own portion ; and he has since sent to Joseph Lancaster the 
following form of an order, to obtain the redelivery of the bill, which 
he had no right even to have put out of his hands, let who would have 
tampered on the subject. 

* FORM OF THE ORDER. 

" Messr.'s. P. & W. H. — Gentlemen: Be pleased to deliver to Mr. 
P. the bill placed in your hands for $22,447, drawn by Simon Bolivar 
to J. D. P. (J. L's agent) dated Bogota, 27th Sept. 1827, on Mr. 
Madrid, and the letter of advice accompanying the same." 

To oblige some friends of J. L. in London, this paper has been signed 
by him, with the addition of a clause of exception, that such signature 
shall in no ways prejudice his claims for damage against his own agent, 
who thus directed most positively to protest Bolivar's bill, and attach 
his property, does the former, leaves the latter undone, accepts another 
bill, in lieu of the former, and finding no assets on the fund, on which 
that second paper was drawn, compromises the right of the person who 
has made him the agent for the whole, by neglecting that agent's claims, 
and agreeing only for his own limited interest and personal concerns. 

The fact for which this circumstance is called into notice, is, that it 
was most daringly asserted in 1829, that Bolivar's bill had been paid ; 
and circumstances have recently come to J. L's knowledge, to convincdl^ 
him that it is indispensable for this prejudice to be dissipated, by a pub- 
lication of the real facts. 

In 1833, here is the form of an order sent to Joseph Lancaster, for 
him to authorize his own agent to recover the bill which that agent had 
placed, for his own interest, out of his own hands, — Joseph Lancaster 
never receiving one cent of said bill, and his agent never having recei- 
ved a portion, however small, for himself, till after Bolivar's death, — a 
very considerable tim.e after the publication of the libel in question. 

By recent advices from his friends, measures are taking which will ob- , 
tain full justice for J. Lancaster, who ought to have been paid long 
ago, and who owes at least nine years suffering ard want to the injus- 
tice which cheated him out of his salary of above $4,500, and interest, 
and left Bolivar's bill unpaid. 

In Colombia his troubles were many. One event, calling for grati« 
tude, is the preservation of hfe, under all the sufferings he and his fam- 
ily endured. He owes many thanks to the friendly hearts who protected 
his wife and children in the hour of danger. 



42 



JOSEPH LANCASTER S OWN GLORIOUS BELL. 




NOTICE 

Th hereby ouen, tliat al a luture time, the history of Dr. Bell and his claims 
will beilnlv e.xitiiiinrd, and ju;4ice fairly done him. The history, however, 
is one attomifil wilh many diverting and very anmsinjor associations; but 
they are such as result only from the .spirit of priestcraft having infused in- 
trigue and corruption into u/?c^/-<io/t of the Church of England! In noticing 
swine of thfrio corruptions, no reflection is meant on the merits of the pi- 
ous, worthy, and excellent, of the Episcopalian denomination, whether 
associated as cluircli with slate or not. There are many excellences in the 
Episcopalian church, which command the greatest respect, and deserve 
the highest praises from all Protestants; especially the veneration and 
[public promulgation of the Holy Scriplures, marking the Episropaiiiin 
creed and practice as a briglil star of the Reformation. Nor ought the 
Christian ever to forget the memory of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, 
who sealed, in that communion, the truth wilh their blood! But the in- 
trigues of living-hunling clergymen, in any denomination, — men who 
would not mind being hooted out of a university, provided they could but 
be hooted into a rich bishopric, — is quite another matter, and a fair sub- 
ject for exposure and animadversion. 



When Joseph Lancaster began his work, there was in England 
many persons who held the notion, that the rich and great were, in con- 
sequence of their riches and greatness, ** porcelain clay of human 
kind," and that the poor .were, in consequence, the common pottery 
clay, fit only for ordinary use, and no great consequence whether trod- 
den under foot or not. 

This grand error had originated in pride, was cherished by the pride 
of the human heart, and the folly of men, who, instead of acting on 
principles which will stand the test of eternity, idolized rank and prop- 
erty, and forgot that the Father of all is Father of the whole human 
race, and so excused themselves from doing any thing like loving or 
enlightening the workmanship of his hands. Others, not content with 
indifference and neutrality, became active enemiesof the progress of know- 
ledge. Among these were several dignified clergymen of the church of 

* W. M. Peckham is an appreiitiae to a respectable enj^raver in New-Haven. — 
He was a pupil of John E. Lovell's, who recommended engraving as a profession, 
because of his native talent. 



43 



England. Ashamed to avow their nnotives, they sung the song of 
church in danger, to the king, who dismissed them with anger, and 
langhcd their assertions to scorn. 

They then, finding the thing would go on without them, determined 
to take part in it, and brought forward Dr. Bell, to claim what he nev- 
er would have attempted, had it not been for "the feast of fat things" 
which they placed before him. The absurdity of his claims were 
highly exposed in the Edinburgh Review. He dedicated his book 
to the then Archbishop of Canlerbury, as patron of the principles on 
which it was founded, and the ends to which it was directed, and 
avowed the following sentiment : — " It is not proposed to educate the 
poor in an expensive manner, nor even to teach them to write or 
cypher. By Utopian schools for the diffusion of general knowledge, 
there is a danger of elevating those who are doomed to the drudgery 
of daily labor, above their situation, and making them unhappy and 
discontented in their lot." Some large schools were absolutely estab- 
lished in England, confined to reading only, but this would not do. 

In the close of 1807, Joseph Lancaster met his friend Joseph Jen- 
nings, at a little fishing town called Watchet, in Somerset. In this 
town was a small Baptist chapel, in the pulpit of which, Joseph Lan- 
caster was kindly invited to lecture. 

Now this said chapel was in the town, and was guilly of having a 
bell in its belfry, to call the congregation together at the hour of assem- 
bling. And the having this little bell in the head, tower, steeple, or 
pericranium of the little chapel, was considered in the eye of the high- 
flying tory churchmen, as an high crime and misdemeanor, which o\ig\ff^ 
to be punished by the due process of an ancient law which forbade that 
chapels should have bells. In consequence, the church which stood 
about a mile off from the chapel, seemed to look scowling and squinting 
over the hill at its little neighbor, as much as to say, " Mr. Chapel, I 
cannot help looking sour and glum at you ; Mr. Chapel, take that bell 
out of your head, or I will prance and dance and kick you down alto- 
gether." Well, in fact a consultation was held to pull down by force of 
law, the chapel bell. But when the long law heads and big wigs were 
consulted about it, they found that the law was plural and the offense 
sino-ular. That the law said chapels should not have bells, but did not 
say°that a chapel might not have one bell. Having once become learned 
in this grammar of bells, and learned enough to distinguish between the 
singular and plural of bells, these loving, neighborly churchmen, wisely 
gave up the idea of a prosecution in which they would not succeed. 

Soon after this, J. Lancaster, without consulting the scowling church, 
lectured in the chapel. What was the consequence .' Why, just the 
same as if two brass candlesticks were hung up at the two ends of the 
room ; give one a bang, says the philosopher, and the other, though un- 
touched, will bang ! ! ! too, as much as if it had mutually undergone the 
same operation as its neighbor. So the chapel bell rang for the lecture, the 
church bell rang to the same note, and the churches and chapels over the 
three kingdoms rang the bells, to the tune of education, m one mode or 
another, over the whole nation. 



44 

Great art tliou, (> bell, says the chitrch. 
Your bell may be great, says the chapel, 
But Lancaster is the clapper. 
No, says Lancaster liimseif, I am bell-founder, 
I made the whole bell, — I cast it myself, 
Here is the mould, there is the maker's name. 
Ding dong, bomb bell. 

This question was well settled by a member of the British parlia- 
ment, who wrote in the Edinburgh Review, ISIO and 1811 ; but it 
may be opened again if it is not needless, to give chance to some Ameri- 
can paper to say, what was once said by an English one, " that as 
much ink had been shed in the wars between Bell and Lancaster, as 
blood was shed in the civil wars between the houses of York and 
Lancaster." 

For one, though I will not give up to any man one-tenth of my right 
to the claim of inventor, yet what I have been most delighted with, has 
been, an unwearied love for the cause on disinterested principle, an in- 
trepid, laborious and unwearied zeal in promoting it. Now here Dr. 
Bell can bear no comparison with me ; for my hat would not hinder my 
entering any house or any nation : but Dr. Bell was tied down to a 
burthen beyond his strength. He was compelled to push a massive 
old church before him, and drag a mighty old steeple after him ! Truly 
I have often pitied his condition ; but as to the cause of education, the 
rivalry has proved a most happy thing for mankind ; any thing being 
,more likely to advance the progress of knowledge, than the dead calm 
of mere apathy. In this point of view, however much I may deprecate 
^Hie motive, or the injustice of Dr. Bell's claims to my inventions, yet I 
would rather a dozen Dr. Bells should march into the field, and com- 
mence anew the great battle of instruction, than drive one 
out. The power of emulation stimulates exertion, and the power of 
friction gives a polish which cannot be obtained without some collision 
of interests, views or mctivos. Let the work go on ! Let the children 
of the world be educated ! Let knowledge fill the mind of every child 
around the circumference of the globe, and abound from the equator 
to the poles, — and my work is done, — I shall then have nothing to do, 
but to rest and be thankful ! 

This subject will be resumed another time, and will lead to some 
amuseinent, as well as curious information. I will only now inform my 
friends, that a very eminent clerical personage, who may soon be a 
bishop, once conversing with me on this subject, gave me a coat of 
arms, which I have carefully preserved ever since. As few of my 
readers will expect from me either " the boast of heraldry or the pomp 
of power," I will tell them what it is : a church Bell with the maker''s 
name on it — " Lancaster me fecit ;''"' " Lancaster made me !" Now 
Dr. Bell would only have been a dumb bell all his life, if I had not put 
a clapper into his empty head. But I have done much more : I have 
melted down his bell m.etal for him ! I purified him from much of his 
dross and reprobate silver ! I have ra-cast, new-moulded, polished, 
brightened and finished him ; and even hung him up as a high church, 
— as a cathedral Bell ; to the tune of many hundred sterling per ann. 
And I am sure he thinks, (if a bell can think,) that it is a veiy good 



45 

tune ; though he woiilil perhaps feel no objection if the notes were pla- 
ced a few thousands higher ! 

The Earl of Harrowby once told me in England, that all his fellow 
churchmen ought to feel obliged to me, for they owed all to me ; if 
they had had no Lancaster they should have had no Bell ! Therefore 
now, henceforth and forever, I announce myself to the world as Bell 
founder and gold burnisher to the church of England ! 

But wherever / travel, to whatever clime I go, the name of Bell has 
hardly ever been heard before I arrive ; but as soon as I meet success 
or find an enemy, then the sound of the long-pealing Bell notes soon 
follow, and all the church Bells are sounding after me. It is no matter 
attempting to stop my ears, ding, dong, chimes on ; sometimes in such 
a style as at present, — the Colombian, or any other style, if you please, 
— quite ridiculous, and wonderfully amusing. However, it revives a 
very amiable and pleasing recollection of a most fond, endearing mother 
— a mother whose musical, nonsensical song, has been almost oracidar 
and prophetic as to my travels over the world. For this church-bell- 
chiming music pursues me wherever T go, to chase away low spirits 
and make me laugh and grow fat, to my bodily inconvenience, whether 
I will or not. This amiable and endeared mother, whom I never re- 
member but to love and honor, used to set me on her knees when quite 
an infant, and sing me a song which delighted me very much, and the 
more so now, because I find it all true, every word of it. She would 
count my fingers and toes, and sing merrily, 

" He shall have bells on his fingers, 

And bells on his toes, 
And he shall have music 
Wherever he goes : 

Ding, dong, 
Ding, dong, 



The following document is worthy the reader's attention. The au- 
thor gives it as a specimen of one of a series of experiments which he 
hopes to be enabled to promulgate for the service of man. He solicits 
the aid of the friends of education, because he has neither funds nor 
means to be useful without it ; but he solicits such aid with a view of 
being or endeavoring to be more useful to mankind than he ever has 
been. The subscription lists, on behalf of which he asks aid, aie an- 
nexed. They have been now some months in hand, owing to very 
peculiar and trying circumstances, some of which concern his otherwise 
happy family, their health, as well as comfort and safety. 

JVeio and singular Improvement in the Mode of Tuition for Youth, 
Joseph Lancaster presents his respects to the public in Montreal, Que- 
bec, and the Province of Lower Canada, to all America anil the world, 
and solicits a kind and candid attention to the annexed notarial document. 
The recent discoveries, establiehed as they are on the test of experiment, 
induce him to solicit this act of attenliou. Joseph Lancaster is now tak- 
ing prompt and efi'eclual measures to promulgate the principle on which 
this experiment has succeeded, to the friends of education generally, 
in a publication, the copy rights of which will be secured to himself and 



46 

f'linily. H.^ desires fo have no sprrnts in pJiiraf i.>n ; all he at ks is llie fair 
jmfrcnag-e due to an inventor, who desires to?erve the pnblic, j»s well as his 
own family, by promnlq-atinfT his invention. As far as depends np^n his 
own choice, if he had the means equal to his wishes, not one child should 
ever atxaiu jrrow up lo seven or nine years of age, ignorant or uneducated 
in elementary learning. Jlis object and desire is, and always has been, 
Education for rut whole Human Rac£., as general as the dew, or the 
light of Heaven. 

No. 1 — (J. A., aged o years, admitted January, I «33 ; did not know the 
alphabet. On examination, she road freely in her accuf^tomed lesion', and 
could read with spelling a few strange words any where, spell words ont 
of book, and write text hand. 

No. 2. — J. A., aged 4 1-2 years, admitted same date as the above, did 
not know his alpiiahet. On examination, on the 29lh March, could read, 
spelling his way with new lessons, and spell words out of book. 

No. 3. — J. W.,agud 7 years, admitted 14lh January, did not know the 
alphabet ; can now read fluently the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John, 
and write and spell long words. 

No. 4. — J. F.,aged 5 years, 8dn)itfed 1st Feb. 1333, simply kne%v the 
alphabet. — Beginning to read : and if it had not been from his absence, 
occasioned by sickness, he would ha^'e been as forward as any other boy ; 
loves school very much. 

No. 5. — R. G., aged 6 years, admitted Cth Jan. 1833, did not know the 
alphabet perfectly. — Fond of study, spells very well, has begun to write, 
and can read in accustomed lessons witli fluency ; would have been equal 
lo the other pupils, if sickness had not interrupted his studies. 

No. 6. — J. M., aged 5 years, admitted l&t Nov. 1332, did not know Iho 
alphabet ; can read any where, and write and spell with correctness. 

No. 7. — J. H. C. aged 7 years, admitted 7th December, 1832, did not 
know the alphabet ; bemg a Canadian, had to learn English before 
he learned any thing else : can read 14 verses in the first chapter of John, 
correctly, and spell and write. 

Nt*. 8. — J. A., aged 7 years, admitted 15th Jan. 1833, spelled words of 
two letters with diflicully ; can road fluently any where, spell, write, «Lc. 

No. 9. — M. A., aged 9 years, admitted 1.5th Jan. 1833, spelled a few 
words of two letters ; can read fluently any where, spell and write. 

No. 10. — A. C.,aged 9 years, admitted 1st Nov. 1832, spelled words of 
two letters ; can read fluently any where, spell and write beautifully. 

No. 11. — E. K., aged 5 years, admitted same date, spelled words of two 
letters; can read fluently any where, spell, and write beautifully. 

No. 12. — H. H.,aged 5 years, admitted same date, spelled words of two 
or three letters ; can read fluently, spell and write. 

No. 13.— C. H.,aged 7 1-2 years, admitted Isl Nov. 1832, could read a 
little, but had lost much during four months vacation ; can read any thing, 
spell any length, and write well. 

These improvements arc selected from a school of fifty pupils, being the 
most recent admissions, and of an age and deficiency of attainments which 
demonstrate that every thing done has been among those whose minds 
could present no auxiliary to the teacher's instructions. 

The other pupils evidence, by the general improvement, that their at- 
tainments in writing, arithmetic, &.c., would do credit to any institution ; 
but this particular class demonstrate that with suitable lessons, and prop- 
erly qualified teachers, the general business of education may go forward, 
and the children of a world be taught to read in a short time. 

JOSEPH LANCASTER. 

We, the undersigned Public Notaries, duly commissioned and sworn in 



47 

for tlic Province of Lower Canada, residing in the cily of Montreal, hav- 
in«', at the instance of Mr. Joseph Lancaster, of Montreal, Teacher, at- 
tended his school on the twenty-ninth day of March last, to witness the 
examination of a number of his pupils,— do certify the foregoing statement, 
bigned by him, as far as we had an opportunity of judging, to be correct in 
every essential. — Dated at Montreal, tliis Cth day of April, in the year of 
our Lord 1833. (In Duplicate.) P. E. LECLERE, N. P. 

IL GRIFFIN, N. P. 

Certified as a public notarial document, '• by persons duly commission 
cd," and countersigned -^ D. Daly," Secretary of the Province." '' In con- 
sequence whereof, full faith and entire credit to llicm, arc and ought to bo 
jfiveii to their signatures." (Signed,; AYLMER, Gov'r. 

The annexed document is cut out of a London newspaper, the 
Morning Herald, near three months back. It will speak for itself. 

JOSEPH LANCASTER. 

There are very few persons who liave hot heard of JOSEPH LANCASTER, 
the founder of the new system of education, and not any who will deny that all 
classes of the community have been beneiited by his exertions. 

It is in the recollection of very many, that his lectures, in every p-nt of Eng- 
land, were attended by the noble and great ; princes condescended to preside, 
and majesty vvas his declared and unchanging patron. Schools on his system, 
by the aid of the persevering and wise, have been extended, not only over Brit- 
ish, but foreign realms. Tens of thousands in eveiy clime will have cause to 
bless his name ; it is embalmed in the records of the advancement of human 
knowledge, and can never be forgotten. 

But who inquires, where is he ? how Jias he been rewarded .'' He Jias had no 
reward ! he is in exile ! he lives in poverty ! The man who has called forth 
the labor of the philanthropist, and has excited the contributions of the benev- 
olent to an extent that cannot be calculated, is residing in Montreal, laboring for 
his existence, and the hard-earned maintenance of a wife and family. 

This fact is stated plainly to the British public, in the firm persuasion that it 
will carry its own appeal to every feeling heart, and produce the universal and 
simultaneous answer, " this ought not to be." 

It is not intended to advocate the return of Joseph Lancaster, but it is proposed 
by a liberal subscription, to raise au annuity for his life, sufficient in amount to 
maintain him respectably, and to enable him to procure for his own children that 
education and establishment he has, under PROVIDENCE, been the instrainent 
of providing for multitudes; and it is intended also to apply to government for a 
giant of land in Canada, on which his family may be supported. 

The cause is undertaken from a conviction that it is just, and under a persua- 
sion that every feeling of gratitude and benevolence will unite to eradicate tliis 
blot upon our national character, that Joseph Lancaster is want. 

The amount received will be invested in an annuity, in the names of trustees, 
and inviolably secured for the purpose for which it is given. 

Subscriptions will be received by Joseph Fletcher, Bruce Grove, Tottenham ; 
Robert Forster, Tottenham; Luke Howard, .flckworth ; Richard Ball, Bristol; 
(jiurney iSt Co. bankers, JVorM;ic/t ; Cropper & Yienson , Liverpool ; Robert Jowelt 
& Son, Leeds ; G. B. Lloyd, Taylors, & Lloyds, Birmingham; W. D. Crewd- 
son & Sons, Kendal; Sir Chatles Piicc, Marryat & Co., Hanburys, Taylor & 
Lloyd, Drewett and Fowler, London. 

His Grace the Duke of Bedford £21 Wm. Aldan, Esq. Leeds 
Rt. Hon. LordBbxley 5 tJ W. Allen, Esq. Plough-ct. 

Rt. Hon. Lord Henley 5 OB. J. 

Geo. Byng, Esq. M. P. 10 C. Barclay, Esq. Bury-liill 

John Gully, Esq. M. P. 5 R. Barclay, Esq. Lombard st. 

Rh. Sanderson, Esq. M. P. 10 Abram. Beaumont, Esq. Stam- 

Amicus 5 ford-hill 

A, B., of Bristol JO Francis Barber, Esq. 



5 





10 





i 


U 


10 





10 


5 





1 






48 



Ti)s. Bickliam, Esq.Toltenhaiu 

Daniel Beale, Esq. Fitzroy- 
square 

N. Cabli, Esq.Leeda 

Roger Ciinliffe, Esq. 

Sam.Darton,Esq.Gracc-cluiiclj- 
street 

Wrn. Dent, Esq. 

Henry Dunn, Esq. British and 
Foreif^n Scliool Society 

J. Fletclier, Esq., Tottenliain 

VVni. Fuller, Esq. 

Robt. Forster, Esq.,Toltenliam 

J. Foster, Esq., Bromley 

Hudson Ci urney , Esq. , Norwich 

Saml. Gurney, Esq., Lombard- 
street 

Wm. B. Gurney, Esq., Cam- 
bcrwell 

Josh. Giitteridge, Esq., Den- 
mark-iiiil 

Win. Hobson, Es(i., Stamford- 
hill 



2J 



1 I J. Hustler, Esq., Bradford 

By Luke Howard, Esq., 
5 Luke llovv-ird, Esq., Ackworth 
3 R. Howard, Esq., Tottenham 
5 W. Leatham,Esq., Pontefract 

S. Labouchcre, Esq. 
5 Abraham Lincoln, Esq. 
1 OSaml. Mills, Esq. 

Miss M. Pope Staines, 
r> OMrs. Hannah Pirn, Tottenham 

OJos. Pease, Esq., Darlington 
y 2 OiJno. Pease, Esq., Darlinj^ton 
5 VV. F. Reynolds, Esq., Gt. St. 
21 Helens 
21 Reading, sundry subscriptions 

from 
10 James Shadbolt, Esq. 

Jno. Sanderson, Esq., Old Jewry 
10 10 OJJ. W. Smith, Esq. 

I Alexander Saunders, Esq. 
5 John Wainer, Esq., Jewin-sl. 

John Broadley Wilson, Esq. 
10 01 Clapham 



5 





5 





21 





JO 





10 


5 





5 





5 





10 





1 





5 





1 





10 


10 


1 





5 





10 





1 





10 






10 



The design of an annuity is confined to Great Britain and Ireland, it 
makes no provision for the present want, which it so decidedly states. 
Some gentlemen in New York proposed a similar measure, but on inqui- 
ring as to the cost, found it inadequate, and began the subscription 
there, which follows after the example of Montreal and Quebec. 

The above article is from the feeling heart and able pen of Joseph 
Fletcher, Esq. of .Bruce Grove, Tottenham, near London, who has 
been for twenty-eight years the personal and unvarying friend of Jo- 
seph Lancaster. 

It was read and approved by many of the subscribers, before it was 
published. 



Though clothed now with ease. 

Though social converse and congenial love 

Now offers me its balm. 

Yet doth my soul in retrospect 

Far other scenes survey — 

Far other sources for energic powers. 

How shall my pen portray the deep distress! 

How paint the anguish of a heart that bled ! 

Or how describe the current as it flowed, 

From Sorrow's briny deeps! 

It fails, — and lost in recollection's maze. 

The mind which felt, can only now explore 

The ambient main, which, with impetuous haste, 

My little bark o'erflowed, and seemed 

To sink it in the abyss. But say, 

Why sunk it not.' 'Twas not thy strength bore up — 

Twas not thyself that didst support ; 

Then who ? That Great I AM, 

Who made the bush his temple, 

And whose flames consumed it not. 

Did he not condescend to intervene, 

And say,'- Be still, it is enough ?" 

Yea, graciously poured in the wine and oil , 

Forget it not my soul. 



S. G. 



APPENDIX, 

WITH 
ADDITIONAL NOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 



Reception of Joseph Lancaster at New-Haven, December, 1833. 
On his arrival he was welcomed to the heart and house of his former 
pupil, John E. Lovell. After much depression of spirit, he here met a 
most heart-cheering reception. It should be stated, that of the thousands 
who have been under the tuition of J. E. Lovell, there are many who have 
now grown up to man's estate, and fill honorable stations in society; 
while many younger, have finished their education, and are entering 
on the pursuits of their professions, with accomplished minds, honorable 
characters and happy prospects. When the eye of these young men 
meets the eye of their former tutor, it is only with delight and gladness. 
Under such circumstances the news of Joseph Lancaster's arrival was 
soon spread, and the Committee of the school took an early opportunity 
of visiting him, for the purpose of inviting him to fix a time to accompany 
them to the school. Of this arrangement they gave public notice, and 
were joined by the Mayor, (Judge Darling,) and a number of other re- 
spectable gentlemen and ladies. The following particulars relating to 
this Occasion, are extracted from the New-Haven papers. 

From the Register. 
Mr. L. yesterday afternoon visited the Lancasterian School, and by 
performance of the pupils, under the charge of Mr. Lovell and Miss Per- 
kins, had additional and gratifying proof of the utility of his system of 
instruction. He was greeted at the school by a considerable number of 
citizens. Last evening he delivered a lecture on Education at the Church 
of the Third Society. 

From the Palladium. 
Joseph Lancaster.— This worthy individual is still in this city, and 
will probably remain here another week. We have failed in discharging 
a duty to our own feelings, as well as to the generous Lancaster, in not 
copying into our columns, the eloquent and touching appeal of Mr. Lovell 
in his behalf. It was through inadvertence and the press of other business, 
not design, that it has not appeared. We hope its publication next w^ek 
will not be too late. The claim of Lancaster is not an ordinary one ; it 
is upon the whole civilized world. Though in appearance he may be an ob= 
ject of charity, in the common acceptation of the term, yet in reality the 
world is indebted to him an amount which cannot be cancelled. In pecu- 
niary resources, he is destitute ; yet he only asks for a pittance of that 
which he has expended for the common good of mankind. Shall so just a 
claim be denied him. Old age is upon him ; and the means by which he 
lived are gone. Shall they not be supplied ? His fault, if fault it can be 
called, is only in not keeping in reserve for the time of bis gray hairs, 
sufficient to defy want, and the anxieties attending its approach; but that 
je a failing that ' leans to virtue's side" — his feelings knew no self, that 

7 



50 

human passion was absorbed in the God-hke benevolence of his heart. 
We trust, then, that the people of this country will seek the opportunity to 
pay back to him some part of the sum which he has expended for them ; 
either by subscription to his works, or by more direct means. 

Mr. liancaster visited the Lancasterian School on Friday last, when 
the following affecting incidents occurred: — 

" The afternoon was closed by the presentation of a purse of small pieces, 
amounting to $37, (the voluntary, and therefore lovely offering of the 
scholars,) and the delivery of the following little address, (written in 
school,) by Master H. B. Harrison, a boy of twelve years of age. 

Honored Sir — 

I am requested, in the name of the pupils of this Institution, to thank 
you for the honor and kindness of this visit. We consider you the great- 
est benefactor of mankind, and especially of poor children. We are sorry 
to learn that the world, and particularly that the people of this country, 
should suffer one who so much deserves their love, and who is so justly 
styled the " friend of man," to be reduced to the necessity of laboring 
for his " daily bread ;" but we hope the citizens of New-Haven will set 
a noble example, and not allow that hideous monster ingratitude to be 
seen among them. We trust that our fathers, and mothers, and friends, 
will not neglect him in adversity, who was so praised and honored in 
his prosperity. We ourselves, (the pupils of both departments of this In - 
stitution,) most cheerfully contribute our mite to make you happy; and 
although we have no royal honors nor bands of music to welcome you 
with, we trust this little purse — the tribute of our youthful, republican af- 
fection, together with our heart felt thanks for your great exertions in 
the cause of education, and our sincere good wishes for your future happi- 
ness, will be quite as acceptable to your generous and parental bosom." 

" And has it come to this ? Good man ; • 

Parent of Knowledge to the Poor ! 

How dares misfortune blight and ban 
A heart so pure ? 

Can it be true, that he whose toil 
Sowi'd intellect o'er half a world 
Should sink upon a foreign soil 

By mis'ry hurl'd ? 

Oh no! Beneath the heaven's wide dome, 
Where'er thy useful mind may wend, 
Each good man's bosom is thy home ; 

Thou christian's friend. 

Thy treasure all ; celestial worth ; 
To sordid wealth and rank ne'er given ; 
Slaves dug for theirs, from out the earth ! 

Thine dropp'd from Heaven ! 

Cheer up ! Thy harvest shall not fail. 
For future millions must aver 
They owe their Virtue — Freedom — Weal, 
To Lancaster." 

" Mr. Lancaster made an appropriate and very affecting reply. It was 
occasionally enlivened by a stroke of humor and originality. Amongst 
other remarks he obsetved in allusion to the "good man" (in the poem) 
that his " father used to tell him, when a boy, that there were two kinds 
of good ; "good, and good-for-nothing." " I have endeavored," he said, 



51 

" to do good, and to be good ; vvliat claim, however, I iiave to the title, I 
leave to the public to decide : but the interesting scene before us, (the girls 
and boys were both present, about 150 of tiie former, and 300 of the latter) 
of so many happy, improving children, educated in consequence of my sys- 
tem, proves to you all that I have not been quite " good-for-nothing." 

J, Lancaster, in attaching these editorial narrations to this little tract, 
cannot but say, that he prefers, when it is in his power, to publish the state- 
ments of other persons rather than his own ; that in so doing, he simply 
quotes thtir language as he finds it ; and that his readers wilf please not 
to consider him as an author when the subject matter is quotation. The 
term " God-like" in the editorial article, he could never think of applying 
to himself without an involuntary shudder ; but the sympathy and kind- 
ness, the noble hearted politeness and humanity he has received from all 
classes of the citizens of New-Haven, especially from the gentlemen of 
the press, who have proved themselves always, (though of various par- 
ties,) of one heart and soul in befriending the cause of education, and 
in kindness to himself, will, he hopes, prevent this observation being con- 
sidered invidious. He ackowledges in the most grateful manner, the re- 
lief which his mind and his family have received since he entered New- 
Haven. He only wishes to be responsible for no modes of expression 
but his own ; and yet by no means wishes to dictate to others, knowing 
that true friendship and sincerity are the only motives for these expressions. 

On entering the school-room, the sight of the pupils was overpowering. 
J. L. was speechless for some minutes. The fine order and excellent dis- 
cipline of the pupils, who are at the absolute will and control of the teach- 
er, by a word, a look, or motion of a finger; the recollection of the 
lovely scenes of his own early youth ; the interest of the pupils ; their re- 
spect and affection; their sympathy and free-will offering; the usefulness 
of the teacher, once his own adopted child in London, (now more endeared 
than ever,) all, were overpowering considerations. The various per- 
formances of the boys, and especially their proficiency in arithmetic, ex- 
ceeded all expectation.* The whole was enhanced by the address of the 
young orator, who did ample credit to the school, distinguished as it is for 
excellence in elocution, and never surpassed, perhaps, by any school on 
earth. The poetry connected with the address was written by the father 
of a Lancasterian teacher in New-York. It is hoped he will one day 
allow his name to be published. 

The New-Haven Palladium, of the 24th, contains the following account 
of J. Lancaster's lecture in the North Church. He had previously 
been honored with a respectable company of citizens in the church of 

the THIRD CONGREGATION. 

" Mr. Lancaster — This gentleman delivered an address, connected 
with the subject of education, to a large audience on Sunday evening last. 
It was purely Lancasterian ; full of feeling, sincerity, benevolence, and 
piety. He excited the admiration, the love, the pity, and the smiles of 
the audience. There could be no mistaking the man, in witnessing the 
overflowings of his heart. He manifested his usual frankness, and his 
confidence in the good sense of the audience, by telling them the whole 

*The pupils performed immense calculations, mentally, promptly, and correct- 
ly. To multiply nine figures by nine figures, and give a quick, correct result, was 
a pleasure and a delight to a numerous class. But a number of them could mul- 
tiply 21 figures by 21 figures — keeping the whole mass of figures in their memo- 
ry — performing the operation in silence, with attention worthy of philosophers. 
The time of operation, was forty minutes for the larger sums ; and four minutes 
for the smaller. 



52 

truth ; without leaving the best of.the transactions which he recounted to 
be guessed at, because he had an agency in them. Though Mr. Lancas- 
ter has but little of this world's goods, wherewith to cheer his declining 
years, he is still a happy man, and he will remain so. The miser feels an 
ecstacy of delight at the glitter of his gold; but his joy vanishes when 
the lid of his cotfer shuts the treasure from his vision. The soldier is 
animated with pleasure at the sound of the bugle, and drinks to giddiness 
the applause that follows his victorious career; but his happiness, too, is 
brief; he purchased it with blood, and he finds at last that he has given 
much, and received — nothing .' But he who looks back upon a well-spent 
life, a life devoted to the happiness and well-being of his fellow men, 
and who sees in the result of his labors more good than he anticipa- 
ted, or dared hope for, must live without regret, and die without a pang. 
The greatest benefactor of mankind is he who does the most in the cause 
of education ; this point is settled. How far the world is indebted to Mr. 
Lancaster in this particular, is too well known to be recited here. The 
following is a late item of intelligence concerning this individual. By a 
letter dated Const A^TI^0PLE, Sept. 13, published in the New-York 
Evening Star, we learn that the Lancasterian system of instruction is now 
being introduced by the Turks among themselves. Two schools are 
already in successful operation, embracing nearly seven hundred youths, 
between ten and twenty years of age. TheOiimanlies,SB.ys the letter, are so 
inexperienced, that they suppose books can be made, as it v/ere, by magic ; 
and wonder why a large geography cannot be prepared for them in eight or 
ten days. They are anxious to get hold of maps and charts, no matter in 
what language, as they can copy them and write the names in Turkish- 
What will not education do in that country ? In a change of tlie customs 
and religion of the Mohamedans of Turkey, how much praise will be due 
to Lancaster!" 

By the kindness of Professor Silliman, J. Lancaster had the pleasure of 
attending his Lectures; a privilege which he Jias highly appreciated, and 
for which he returns public thanks. 

By favor of President Day and Professor Goodrich, he enjoyed the sat- 
isfaction of delivering a Lecture to the Students of the University in the 
Rhetorical Chamber, on the natural philosophy and first principles of ed- 
ucation, as developed in the Mosaic account of creation, &c. The intel- 
lectual society of such a number of promising young men, was to him one 
of the highest treats he could possibly enjoy. He shared in the light of 
their countenances, and left none of them in darkness. 

Female School. — He must not omit to express the satisfaction he ex- 
perienced in visiting the female department of the Lancasterian SchcoJ, 
and its excellent teacher,HuLDAH Perkiks. The girls promise great ad- 
ditional improvement, — are in good order, and emulous to advance in learn- 
ing. There is every prospect that the female teacher will be one of the 
greatest blessings which the pupils of that school can enjoy, in the per- 
son of a sincere, useful, and superior instructress. The school-house is a 
noble building, worthy of Titus Street, Esq. who gave the land, and of 
the public spirited persons who erected the edifice. The girls, like the 
boys, are well accommodated, and both have ample room for separate play- 
grounds. The last consideration, bespeaks the good and generous feeling 
which existed in the mind of the giver, Titus Street, Esq. It was not 
merely the gift of a valuable lot, but the appendages, which double its 
value; and every time the shouts of joy resound In these healthy play 
grounds, they proclaim the liberality of the man, who, in his own good 
will, has thus consulted the happiness and health of the children of his 
fellow citizens. 



53 

The Ladies of JS/ew-Hciven. — As one of the Directors of tlie Emigrant 
Society of Montreal, J. Lancaster had the opportunity of witnessing the 
happy effects of the liberal donations of clothing, &c., sent by the ladies 
of New-Haven, for the relief of the distressed at the commencement of 
the cholera, which fell very heavily upon hundreds of poor emigrant fami- 
lies at Montreal. The relief was as acceptable as generous. Though he 
has no specific commission, yet he thinks it his duty as an individual, to 
say, that if ten thousand tongues could be heard from Montreal to Neil^- 
Haven, the benevolent ladies who did that well-timed deed of goodness, 
would have the thanks of as many hearts as tongues. He writes this 
as an eye-witness of facts, and believes the timely aid was most highly 
appreciated by every feeling and respectable person in Montreal. 

NOTE ON BOLIVAR'S BILL. 

This transaction would not have been adverted to, but that the distress 
and loss under which J. L. left Colombia have never yet been overcome, 
though novv near seven years since. It is therefore pointed out as a case 
of great hardship. The facts are the best explanation he can offer ; yet 
he is in possession of many jnore valuable documents and high references. 

It is not likely that J. Lancaster or his wife would have saved a single 
article of her property, had it not been for one act of good will to others. 
Finding 120 Scotch settlers there, of whom 80 were women and children, 
he became their advocate, and prevented starvation being added to the ruin 
resulting from the base imposition which had been practiced on them. 
They were, in consequence, the grateful agents of saving to his wife and 
children the little property of books, pictures and paintings, left by her 
former husband. The deliverance of these poor people was complete. 
CANNING, on J. L's representations, interfered for them, and they are 
now settled at Guelph, in Upper Canada, doing well. 



OBJECTS OF SUBSCRIPTION, SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES, 

&c. 

The object of this subscription, is to promote the publication of a 
book, to be entitled IMPROVEMENTS IN EDUCATION, by 
Joseph Lancaster, in one volume octavo. 

It is intended to comprise, First, His Original System epitomized. 
Secondly, Important improvements recently made at Montreal, by him- 
self, and capable of being united with the original system to a great 
perfection of its powers, as v^ell as auxiliary to private tuition and a va- 
riety of public Institutions. Thirdly, A brief report of its progress 
over the world. 

The design of this subscription is to blend relief to Joseph Lancas- 
ter's family with his future usefulness to mankind ; in fact to place the 
public in possession of his peculiar experience in education. Having 
long been acknowledged as having done much service to mankind, it 
is hoped his suggestions for the further advantage of youth, may at least 
be deemed worthy of candid attention and benevolent patronage. 

Unavoidably, traveling is attended with expense, and time is required 
to raise a subscription in small sums to any considerable aggregate. A 
number of subscribers have entered their names for several copies, in- 
tending to take only one or two, in order more effectually to raise a pre- 
sent and timely aid for Joseph Lancaster's family, who are now suffer- 
ing under recent trials — the long continued effects of former losses — the 



54 



sacrifices made in his earliest efforts for education, and the injury to his 
income for a twelvemonth in consequence of the cholera, &c. 

D. Burnet, 2 do do 



1830. SirJas. Kempt,K.C.B. 
late Gov. Gen. «&c. Mas- 
ter Gen. of Ordinance, 4 cops, paid 

'< LordAyImer,K.C.B.Go- 

vernor General, &c. 4 do do 

'« Sir John Colburne, K.C. 

B. Lt. Gov. U. Canada, 4 do do 

" Commodore Barrie, 4 do do 

« Hon.J.Pothier, M.L.C. 4 do do 

" John Bignel, Post Office 

Quebec, 2 do do 

" J.Burlingham,laPrairie, 4 do do 

" Speaker Pap! neau, Mon- 
treal, 2 do do 

Publication List, Montreal. — 1833. 
Chief Justice Reid, 
John Forsyth, M.L.C.* 
Peter McGill, M.L.C. 
Horatio Gates, M.L.C. 
Adam L. Macnider, 
Lieut. Col. MacDougall, 
George Davies, 
Stanley Bagg, 
H. Griffin, 
J. C. Forbes, Commissariat, 2 do do 
M.O'Sullivan,SolicitorGen.2 do do 
Judge N. F. Uniacke, 2 do do 

A. Buchanan, 2 do do 

J. S.McCord, 2 do do 

A. Porteous, Post Office, 2 do do 
S. Gerrard, 
T. B. Anderson, 
George Auldjo, 
Joseph Shuter, 
Abner Bagg, 
A. F. Holmes, M.D. 
W. Robertson, MD 
J. Griffin, 
John Delisle, 
F. Languedoc, M.P.P.t 
Wm. Budden, 
John Clarke, 



4 


cops. 


paid 


4 


do 


do 


4 


do 


do 


4 


do 


do 


4 


do 


do 


4 


do 


do 


4 


do 


do 


2 


do 


do 


2 


do 


do 



do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 



Publication List, Quebec. — 1833. 
John Hale, M.L.C. 2 cops, paid 

A. Stuart, M.P.P. 2 do do 

H. Black, 2 

John Neilson, M.P.P. 2 

Wm. Price, 2 

Dr. Sk«y, 2 

Sir J. CaldwelLBart.M.L.C. 2 



D. Daly, Provincial Sec'ry, 2 do do 

Wm. King McCord, 2 do do 

Wm. Walker, 2 do do 

Nathaniel Jones, 2 do do 

John Porter, 2 do do 

Alfred Hawkins, 2 do do 

Joly, 2 do do 

George Pemberton, 2 do do 

James George, 2 do do 

Henry Atkinson, 2 do do 

H. Gowen & Co. 2 do do 

T.Curry 2 do do 

James Burne, 2 do do 

H. LeMesurier, 2 do do 

Joshua Whitney, 2 do do 

J. N. Campbell, 2 do do 

J. E.Ross & Co. 2 do do 

John Caldwell, 2 do do 

S. F. Holcomb, 2 do do 

Wm. Phillips, 2 do do 

R. Shaw, 2 do do 

J. W. Fraser, 2 do do 

Wm. Park, 2 do do 

Judge Kerr, 2 do do 

Richard Goidswortliy, 2 do do 

Michel Clouet, M.P.P 2 do do 

T. H. Thompson, 2 do do 

Sheriff Sewell, 2 do do 

Publication List, New- York City. — 1833. 

Gideon Lee, Mayor of N.Y. 20 cops, paid 

Thomas Dixon, 

Joseph Jennings, 

C. J. Gayler, 

S. W. Seton, 

G. Hallock, 

Walter Bowne, 

James G. King, 

Moses Allen, 

Hugh Maxwell, 

S. J. Silvester, 

R. Riker, Recorder, 

John Fisher, 



10 do do 



Alexander Simpson, 

M. Bell, M.L.C. 

J. C. Sinton, 

Thomas Fargues, M. D 

C.F. Aylwin, 

J. £. Ross, 



do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

do do 

2 do do 

2 do do 

2 do do 

2 do do 

2 do do 

2 do do 



20 


do 


do 


10 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 


20 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 


10 


do 


do 


10 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 


5 


do 


do 



S. A.Willoughby,Brooklyn,5 do do 

Publication List, Neio-Haven, — 1833.1: 
New-Haven Lancasterian 

School Committee, 50 cops, paid 

H. W. Edwards, Gov. of Ct. 5 do do 
Professor Silliman, 
Richard Musgrave, Esq 
President Day, 
Professor Goodrich, 
James A. Hillhouse, 
Richard M. Clarke, 
Samuel W. Chilson, 
John E. Lovell, 



5 


do 


do 


3 


do 


do 


2 


do 


do 


2 


do 


do 


2 


do 


do 


3 


do 


do 


5 


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10 


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do 



* Member of the Legislative Council. tMember of the Provincial Parliament. 

t A very respectable list of names for above 200 copies, will be specified at length 

in a page vet to be printed, the list for which is not quite ready for this impression. 



\ 







bi) 



C. J. GAYLERS, 

Patent Double Fire Proof Chests 
and Safes, 

IVARRANTED. 



PERFECT 




SECURITY. 



CATTTIOXr. 

The above Chests can only be legally purchased 
of the Patentee, or his authorized agents. 

J^ew-York, JSTov. 20, 1833. 

The following testimonial of the utility and safety of Gayler's Patent 
Double Fire Proof Chests, is from the Portland Advertiser, to which paper 
it was communicated by a disinterested person, and one who is well knowH 
in that city : 

Fire.— We understand that on Saturday night, the 3d inst., a large new 
building in Thomaston was burnt to the ground. The lower part of it was 
occupied by Mr. Thomas H. Jenks and Mr. William C. Killson, both mer- 
chants. In the upper part were the offices of J. S. Abbott and M. H. 
Smith, attorneys at law, a printing office, and the office of the late Land 
Agent. The fire originated in that part of the building occupied by Mr. 
Jenks, and had made such progress when it was discovered, that nothing 
could be taken from the building. No insurance on the building, or any 
thing in it, except two thousand dollars on Mr. Jenks' stock. The value 
of the property consumed is variously estimated, from six to ten thousand 
dollars. We learn that all the valuable property of Mr. Abbott, and of 
his clients, that had been entrusted to his care, were securely locked up in 
a Double Iron Safe. The Safe fell from the second story into the cellar, 
and the burning timbers tumbling down upon it, it was exposed to an in- 
tense heat, for hours. It was for a longtime literally red hot ; but the pa- 
pers all came out uninjured, jybthing else from any part of the building 
was saved. 

Merchants as well as attorneys here have an evidence of the utility and 
safety of Iron Chests ; and we think no business man who has in his pos- 
session valuable papers, should be without one. It would have been well 
for our correspondent to have mentioned whose make the safe was. 

The following letter from John S. Abbott, Esq. Solicitor of Thomaston, 
Maine, to the editors of the Portland Daily Advertiser, confirms the above 
facts, relative to the security of Gayler's Safes : They are real Salaman- 
ders ! 



66 



Messrs. J. «Si W. E. Edwards, 

Gentlemen, — In an editorial article upon the.Iate Fire in Thomaston, you in- 
timate a wish to know the name of the raanufacturer ni' the Iron Safe that was 
in my office. It is with much satisfaction that I send you the name, hoping that 
the occurrence may induce all to look to the preservation of their valuable pa- 
pers. The Safe was from the manufactory of C. J. Gayler, 102 Water-street, 
New- York. Mine was a Patent Double Wrought Chest. It fell from the second 
story into the cellar, and was exposed to an intense red heat for some hours. 
The heat was so great as to melt a part of a stove ; and the Iron Key which waa 
left in a Padlock, on being touched, crumbled to atoms. 

I suppose that in Cities and large Towns, where there are generally fire hooks, 
and convenient apparatus for withdrawing chests from fires, that not one time in 
a hundred a Safe would be exposed to so intense a heat, and for so long a time, as 
mine was. O^ ^'o paper in it teas in the least degree burnt, and not one was ren- 
dered illegible. I do not hesitate to say tjiat Gayler's Double Wrought 
Iron Chests, are, as they purport to be, FIRE PROOF : and I would cheerful- 
ly recommend them to general use. 

(Signed.) JOHN S. ABBOTT. 

Portland, November 11th, 1833. 

The following Banks, Insurance Offices, &c. have Double Fire Proof 
Safes, weighing from 1000 to 12,000 pounds each, now in use, and are re- 
ferred to by permission. 



Boston. 



The Oriental Bank, 1 

" Market do. 
" Trader's do. 
" Washington Ins. Com. 
" South Boston Iron Co. 
Samuel S. Lewis, 
John B. Jones «& Co. 
The Bristol County Bank — Taunton. 
" Greenfield Bank — Greenfield. 



Ths Citizen's Bank, ) Augusta, Me. 
" freemen s do. ) 

Savings Bank — New-York. 
Central Bank of Florida. 
Bank of Pensacola. 

SrS','"'"'"|''ewO,lea„., 

Bank of Alabama — Mobile. 
Bank of Wareham — Massachusetts. 
Orleans Co. Bank— Irasburg, Va. " Bankof S.Carolina-Charleston,*^;. 

Numerous references, to Merchants, Solicitors, Record OfEces, &c. in 
every place from New Orleans to Maine, can be given, if required. 



CONSOLATIOlg OF THE FINISHING NOTE. 

" On eagle's wings I'll bear thee, 
Hind's feet I'll give thee too ; 
For every work prepare thee, 
And light thy lamp aneto. 



And when thy work is finished. 
And death has set thee free. 
To glory I'll receive thee, 
To reign in life with me" 



S.'^'^Y °^ CONGRESS 



019 792 367 2 



